Transformers Prime: Burnt
by The Forgotten Soldier343
Summary: what if at the beginning of season 3, Jack didn't get away with Arcee and became a prisoner of the Decepticons. what will become of him? how will things turn out? no one knows, but one thing is certain. the cons will leave their mark. rating may change.
1. Chapter 1

Transformers Prime: Burnt

Ok so this is my first fanfiction so please go easy on mistakes. I know there are some fanfics like this one but this will be different, it just needs some time. Ideas are welcomed.

Disclaimer I do not own Transformers Prime.

'how did this happen'.

That was the thought going through Jack's head, as he sat inside a glass cube inside of the medical ward of the nemesis.

He began to recall the events leading up to his current predicament.

It started when the decepticons had placed a fortress in Jasper. After using Raf, Miko and himself as ransom against the autobots to take control of the Omega Lock. Then they attack the autobot base and Optimus had ordered everyone to be ready to be ground bridged out of there.

So he and Arcee were ground bridged to somewhere random in the US, and began driving back towards Jasper. Jack asked why on earth would they regroup there and not somewhere else. But Arcee told him that it was the protocol that the autobots used on Cybertron, and that they were using the same protocol now.

As they drove towards Jasper Jack couldn't help but worry about his mom. Arcee tried to reassure him that she was alright as Fowler most likely got her, as well as Raf and Miko's families out of there. But this still did little to ease his worries.

Eventually they arrived in a small mining town and stopped to rest before heading out again. Arcee thought she saw something and told him to wait while she checked it out. As she drove off Jack began to think about his mother again.

He pulled out his phone and opened it up. Arcee had told not to use it as the decepticons could use it to track them. But he was so worried about his mother and he wanted to let her know that she was ok. He thought that one text couldn't hurt as millions of texts where sent ever minute around the US. So the odds of the cons finding and tracking his text was one out of a million.

Turns out he was that one out of the million as no more than a few minutes after sending the texts did the cons show up and began firing on him.

He tried to run to cover but the cons got a lucky shot as one hit right by his feet and sent him flying through the air before hitting the ground hard. After that one of the cons landed and transformed before picking him up. The explosion left him in a daze so he could run or even move for that matter. He faintly heard Arcee's voice call out for him as the con holding him entered a ground bridge.

Now here he was on the nemesis as a prisoner to the decepticons. He didn't know how long he'd been onboard now, all he knew was that he made a very stupid mistake.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of the doors to the medical ward open. He looked up and say Soundwave, Starscream and Megatron himself enter the room.

Jack swallowed nervously. 'Why are they here'. Were they there to torture him for information.

He was relieved when they walked past him, with only Starscream even giving him a glance. He watched in curiosity when Soundwave deployed Lazerbeak and set it on the table to his right. Soundwave began working on Lazerbeak as Megatron and Starscream watched. Though the glass made it difficult to hear, he could still listen in on the conversation.

"Well, did any of the surveillance data survive?" asked Megatron, while Soundwave shock his head no.

"aaahhh, a shame, we might of a least learned of the direction of which Arcee fled."

Jack released a sighed in relief after hearing that. At least Arcee wasn't harmed or captured because of him.

"Clearly we need to improve on our methods of hunting autobots, and build off of the tactical advantage we manage to secure." Stated Megatron.

"Lord Megatron, I am ready to return to Darkmount. I am certain you'll want to see what I've uncovered." Came Knockout's voice over to coms.

"Soundwave activate a space bridge portal." Ordered Megatron.

Soundwave as always choose to remain silent but Jack could see a space bridge with coordinates come up on his visor. Just moments later a space bridge opened up behind them. With Knockout walking through.

"I find myself in urgent need of good news. So please knockout, tell me you found something useful?" said Megatron while walking forward slightly.

"Somethings my liege and… someone" said Knockout while gesturing to the portal.

Just moments after he said that Jack could hear the sound of a con walking through the portal. And as the sound got louder he could see the outline of this new con from behind the rest. As the new con walked through he could hear Starscream gasp.

"He… lives?" questioned Starscream.

The con was fairly large but not even close to Megatron, and was covered in dark purple armour. Jack could see he had a cannon for his left arm and only had one eye. Jack could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

'This can't be good.' Thought Jack.

"Shockwave" came Megatron's voice fallowed by a dark chuckle that made Jack worry even more for what was coming the Autobots way. "just the tactical advantage I need."

"Lord Megatron" said Shockwave fallowed by him bowing to his master.

As Megatron and Shockwave talked Jack watched on with concern as this Shockwave told about how he was left on Cybertron to him finding the omega lock. What made Jack really concern was how he talked. It was cold and as if all his thoughts were nothing more than calculations and statistics. He could barely hear any emotion in his voice.

When Shockwave mentioned him continuing with his experiments Jack knew he was a scientist. Then his blood ran cold, as he remembered Ratchet mentioning a con scientist once. And that he was responsible for many terrors that the cons had created over the years. But that Arcee had managed to offline him just before she arrived on earth. If this was indeed him then the bots were in really big trouble.

Just as the cons were leaving Shockwave looked over at him and stopped. Jack could feel that eye looking at him, and he could feel himself building up a sweat at the stair.

"I assume that this is the organic life form that currently inhabits this planet my liege?" asked Shockwave.

"Indeed. This one is one of the autobots human pests, we managed to capture him and will soon interrogate him for the location of the other autobots." Said Megatron as he walked up to Shockwave while looking at Jack.

"I find it improbable that this creature has the capability to dominate this planet. Or be of any threat to the Decepticon cause." Said Shockwave.

"The humans are more than meets the eye. This one is a prime example of this. As it was the one intrusted with the key to vector sigma by Optimus himself. Despite how weak the humans are they are resilient, and should not be underestimated." Countered Megatron with a tone of disgust at the human.

Shockwave merely nodded and began walking out with other and soon enough Jack was by himself once more.

Jack just sat there in the cube wondering what was going to happened to him. He had lost complete sense of time. He thought that maybe he was there for a few hours. But for all he knew, it could have been 30 minutes.

Finally, after what seemed like forever the doors to the medical ward opened, and in came two random cons. With one of them opening the cube and grabbing Jack roughly before walking out, with Jack in hand. During the entirety of the trip Jack struggled, even though he knew it was useless.

Eventually they ended up on the bridge of the nemesis, with the two cons approaching Megatron.

"Lord Megatron we have brought the human as you requested." Said the con that was not holding him.

"Hand me the pest, then continue about your duties." Ordered Megatron with the con holding Jack quickly dropping him into the large mech's servo, before bowing and leaving.

"Now boy why don't you make things easy for yourself and tell me what I want to know. Or do I need show that defying me is bad for your health?" said Megatron with what was clearly fake generosity.

Jack gulped nervously but other than that said nothing. Which lead to Megatron glaring down at the boy.

"So you wish to defy me then. Very well. Starscream take the pest to one of the prison cells, and show him some… Decepticon hospitality." Ordered Megatron.

"W-what? Master surely someone el…" started Starscream with Megatron cutting him off.

"Do as I command of you Starscream!" yelled Megatron with Starscream backed away in fear.

Starscream didn't need to be told twice as he quickly took the boy in his servo and left the bridge. Eventually Starscream left the nemesis and started to walk into Darkmount. Jack looked in complete awe as they entered the tower. It wasn't to long after that Starscream arrived at the room he was looking for and with no second thoughts he entered the room.

Jack gasped once they entered the room, because there in the center of the room was Wheeljack.

"Look wrecker I brought you one of your human pets to join you." Stated Starscream with a hint of triumph in his words.

Wheeljack glanced at the boy and after seeing that he was not harmed yet focused on glaring at Starscream.

Starscream roughly chained Jack up and began walking to the right of the room where Jack could see all kinds of tools. All of which he was sure were torture weapons. After a few moments Starscream turned around with a energon staff in hand, and began walking back over to them.

"So wrecker. Why don't you tell me what I want to know? Or do I need to be more… persuasive?" asked Starscream.

"I'm not going tell you anything screamer." Said Wheeljack plainly

Starscream growled in anger and raised his staff. But when he swung it down it didn't land on Wheeljack. It landed on Jack.

Jack couldn't hold back the screams of pain as energon ripped through his nervous system. After a few seconds Starscream pulled the staff back, with Jack coughing violently and his body twitching.

"We will see wrecker. Cause now if you choose to defy me its not you that takes the brutal punishment… but the pest." Stated Starscream.

"LEAVE THE KID OUT OF THIS SCREAMER!" demanded Wheeljack.

Starscream swung the Staff down on Jack again, causing another wave of pain to course through his system. After another few seconds with screams filling the air, Starscream pulled the staff away. Leaving Jack gasping for air, and even a bit of steam coming off of him.

"Wrong answer wrecker". Said Starscream.

Wheeljack was quiet for a few seconds then glanced at Jack.

Wheeljack knew that the Autobot code was to never endanger human lives. But if he told Starscream anything it would only make trying to stop the cons harder.

But before he could think any further a voice filled the air.

"Don't… tell him…. Anything!" said jack as he continued to pant.

Wheeljack glanced back over to him with jack raising his head to look at him.

"I can handle it. so don't tell them anything, no matter what." Stated Jack with as much bravery he could muster at that moment.

Wheeljack looked at him as he thought it over. He knew the kid had now chosen to keep silent, but what about the autobot code about humans. If he told them, millions of humans could die. If he didn't, then one of there closest allies might. But the kid made his stance clear on this and Wheeljack was going to do the same.

"You heard the kid screamer, I'm not telling you anything." Said Wheeljack.

"Very well." Said Starscream with a hint of anger in his voice.

He then swung at the boy again.

So that's it for this chapter. I know its not very long and I will try to make them a little longer in the future, but I can't promise anything. Please leaving a comment on what you think of this so far and what you would like to see in the future. Until next time this the forgotten soldier 343 signing off.


	2. Chapter 2

ohmygiddyaunt: thanks for your review. I'm glad you agree. Also you will have to wait and see if there is a good ending for Jack. ;)

LuisJM: your so close! But I'm not going to soil anything. But I will say you're on the right track. Also love your work. Its always a good read.

BOBthiebomber: glad to hear your enjoying this.

Now on with the story.

(with Arcee)

Drive.

That was all Arcee could do at the moment. Trying to put as much distance between her and the cons as possible. But her processor was still at the moment where the cons brought Jack through the ground bridge. Anger coursed through her as she accelerated going even faster down the empty road. Some of it was towards the cons for capturing him, but most of it was directed towards herself.

'I should have been faster' she thought. 'I should of not let him out of my sight'.

Her anger was replaced with sorrow as she slowed down again.

'Why? Why can't I keep my partners from harm' she asked herself. 'First Tailgate, then Cliff, and now Jack's been captured. Why Primus why?'

As she continued to drive down the endless road, her thoughts began to change as she began to wonder how they even found her. She knew they could of possibly located her spark signature. But the odds of them locating any of the autobots would be minuscule, and with her being the smallest. That would make tracking her even harder. So how? How did they find her?

After a few more moments of thinking a thought hit her, and when it did. She came to a screeching halt.

"He didn't!" she hissed.

'He sent a fragging message didn't he.' She thought bitterly. 'Why Jack?! I told you not to do anything like that! No texts or calls!'

She let out an airless sign as she began driving again. She knew she couldn't remain focused on that right now. First she needed to reunite with the other. Then they needed to bring down Megatron's fortress. THEN she could rescue Jack, AND beat him to scrap for his stupid decision.

She was pulled from her thoughts when she saw a ship fly over her, and began to land in front of her.

'Bot, or con?' she thought as she came to a stop and transformed, while at the same time activating her blasters.

As she approached the ship that landed, a platform began to lower. She held her blaster at the ready, as it slowly dropped. But when the person flying the ship became visible she instantly dropped her blasters as she was clearly shocked by who she was seeing.

"Ultra Magnus…"

(with Jack and Wheeljack)

It had been a few hours since Starscream had finished with his little interrogation. Now the only two present in the room currently were both Jack and Wheeljack.

Wheeljack had been through worse, but he most certainly been better as well. From helm to pede, he was covered in scratches as well as a few dents. He was also leaking energon in a few places, as some even came from his mouth.

But his condition was much better then Jacks was. Jack may have gotten hit with the energon staff less then him, but it still did more damage.

Wheeljack glanced over slightly to examine the extent of the damage.

The first thing he noticed was that his hair was all messed up, even standing up in some places looking a bit chard. The next thing he saw clearly was the burn marks on his frame and clothes, clearly from the staff's high heat. He could also see red slowly dripping down him and onto the floor below. 'What was it humans had instead of energon again? Didn't Miko call it blood?' Wheeljack thought. The last thing he saw was that his right arm was at an odd angle. Wheeljack could remember a third of the way through the torture session hearing a popping sound come from the boy. And if the sound of the scream that followed was anything to go by, it had to of hurt.

Wheeljack was brought out from his thoughts when he heard a groan come from the boy. Slowly but surely Jack's head began to raise as he slowly regained consciousness.

"Glad to see your still with us kid." Said Wheeljack.

"Uuuhhhh. What happened?" Asked Jack in a some what pained voice.

"You passed out about half way through. I'd always thought you were the slacker type." Said Wheeljack sarcastically.

"Oh really, and why would that be?" Asked jack playing along with Wheeljack's little tease.

"You always struck me as the type that would run in fear at the first sign of trouble." Answered Wheeljack.

"Really is that all?" questioned Jack.

"Well that, aaannnddd Miko said you couldn't fight your way out of… a wet paper bag..." Continue Wheeljack.

"And?" asked Jack. Knowing there was more to the insult.

"And even if you had the Ark at your despoil you would be hopeless." Wheeljack finally finished.

And there was it was. If Jack knew one thing is that when Miko insulted him, she ALWAYS made them over the top.

"Well that explains it." said Jack sarcastically.

Both seemed to quiet down now and looked straight head.

"So how do you feel?" asked Wheeljack after a moment of silence.

"Who me? Best I've ever been." Jack Answered sarcastically.

"Glad to hear it kid." Said Wheeljack.

The conversation seemed to die down after that, and the room was filled with silence once more. After about fifteen more minutes Jack let out a large yawn.

"Why don't you get some rest kid. After all its not like we're going anywhere." Commented Wheeljack.

"You know what. That's a good idea." Said Jack before closing his eyes and slowly entered unconsciousness once more.

(the nemesis)

Starscream enter the nemesis's bridge once more, with a scowl on his face. He was not looking forward to explaining to lord Megatron on how he didn't gather any intel from both the wrecker or the human pest.

Megatron looked over and saw his 'military' second in command approach, though rather slowly.

"So tell me Starscream did you manage to gather anything from our… guests?" ask Megatron.

"N-No... my liege. Nether the wrecker or the human pest gave any kind of intel." Answer Starscream in a some what timid voice.

Megatron growled for a moment, which lead to Starscream backing away slightly in fear. Until Megatron merely turned around, before giving his next order.

"Go and monitor the 'human web'. see if you can find anything that might aid us in finding any of the autobots." Ordered Megatron.

"Yes my liege." said Starscream before hurrying to the monitor, encase Megatron decided to do more than just give him another task.

Megatron continued to look out the window for a few moments before glancing over at Soundwave.

"Soundwave. What condition did Starscream leave the wrecker and the pest in?" He finally asked.

Soundwave didn't say anything but merely pulled up the video feed of the cell that Wheeljack and jack were in. Megatron looked at the image for a few moments, see that Starscream had indeed tried. He turned again to begin looking out the front of the nemesis once again.

"Have someone send knockout to check on our prisoners. We don't need them dying on us until we have what information we require of them." Ordered Megatron.

Soundwave nodded before turning around and walking out of the bridge.

'The boy or the wrecker will tell me where the autobots are heading Optimus. And when they do, I will find you. And when I find you, the last prime will fall.' Thought Megatron.

(time skip)

It had now been a few days, and both Wheeljack and Jack were showing the toll of their torture sessions. Their talking had grown less and less. Mostly because jack was staying unconscious longer and longer. But for the times that Jack was conscious a plan was slowly being formed between them, even if it was vague.

The plan was that if one could escape that they were to take it and get back to the others. As they both knew that if they went back for the other, it would only end up with them being back at square one. So despite them not wanting to leave the other behind, they both agreed.

Wheeljack hung from where he was as he just looked at the floor. His thoughts were currently on Bulkhead and Miko. He knew they were safe, otherwise they'd be here too, joining them. But he also knew that they could be found at any point, and with Bulkhead that was more than likely. Wheeljack was sure that by now he had a run in with the cons, as stealth was never one of his strong suits.

He was brought out of his thought by Jack as he slowly gained consciousness once more.

"Well it took you long enough." Teased Wheeljack.

"You know. I could get use to this. I never got this much sleep before. You know between school, work, and helping you guys." Joked Jack.

"Ha. I hear ya kid." Wheeljack responded.

Before ether could say anything else the doors to their cell door opened and in entered five cons. Four of them went to Wheeljack while the fifth walked over to jack and grabbed him roughly before removing his chains. After grabbing them the cons began taking them down the large maze of corridors. Roughly ten minutes later they entered a room they had been in a few times. The medical ward. The four walk over with Wheeljack and strapped him down to a berth. While the one holding Jack dropped him into the same glass cube he was placed in days ago.

After the cons were done they left the room without saying as much as a word.

"So… what do you think they're going to do this time?" asked Jack.

"No idea kid." Answered Wheeljack.

A few more moment went by before the med bay doors opened with Shockwave walking in. jack could feel the hairs on his neck stick up again. Up until now knockout was the one that always showed up to do any sort of medical work. So why was Shockwave here?

'Oh. This can't be good.' Silently thought Jack.

Shockwave walked over to a table near Wheeljack and began inspecting the equipment that was currently on it.

"Do your worst doc. I'm a wrecker, I can take it." stated Wheeljack.

Shockwave grabbed a device and slowly began to walk towards Wheeljack.

"Trust me… you in fact… can not." Said shockwave with little to no doubt in his voice. And with that attached the device to the back of Wheeljack head.

Wheeljack gasped as he suddenly entered recharge, with his optics closing.

Shockwave walked over to a console and began typing in a few commands, and within a few seconds Wheeljack's vitals came up on the screen. Next Shockwave took the other end of the device and plugged it into the console.

Wheeljack tensed up for a brief moment, showing the device was active.

Knowing the device was now active Shockwave walked back over to the console and continued his work once more.

As all this was going on Jack watched from inside the glass cube he was currently trapped in.

'What is that thing he put on the back of Wheeljack's head?' Jack wondered.

Despite being interrogated for few days now; jack had never once seen that device or it being used. So what was it?

After a few more moments of thinking about what the device was, jack decided the best thing to do was ask.

"What is that thing?" he asked.

Shockwave paused for moment to look at Jack, before returning to his work.

" A cortical physic patch" was his only response, after returning to his work.

But it was all jack needed to hear. Because he now knew what they were doing.

'They are trying to get answers by looking at his memories.' Thought Jack.

A few moments later Shockwave made a noise of what Jack thought was disappointment.

"What's the problem?" asked Jack in a slightly joyed tone.

Shockwave didn't answer and instead picked up Jack out of the glass cube, and headed over to the other berth. Shockwave then took the custom restrains that were made for the human and proceeded to restrain Jack.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" asked Jack angrily.

Shockwave didn't acknowledge him, and just merely continued with what he was doing. He walked back over to the table and began to scan over the devices once more. After a few seconds Shockwave returned back over to Jack with a gun like object. It had a clear tube on the top with a two smaller tubes running up from the sides to the front of the gun. At the front of the gun wasn't a barrel, but instead what looked like the head of a pen.

'That doesn't look like fun.' Thought jack as he began to struggle against the restraints.

But Shockwave soon rested his cannon on him in order to cease him from moving before quickly taking the device and firing the tip into his arm.

Jack grunted in pain and soon saw blood running up the two small tube, before finally ending in the single large one.

After taking a sufficient amount Shockwave remove the gun and his cannon arm off of Jack before walking over to a different console.

Jack watched as he placed the tube into some kind of scanner, with the tube being scanned from top to bottom with a red beam of light seconds later.

Soon data was running across the screen of the console, to fast to read for Jack. But it was clear to him that Shockwave was having no difficultly reading it.

It was like this for about another thirty minutes until the console started making a noise causing Jack to tense. Only a few seconds later Shockwave deactivated the alarm and brought up some kind of chart. Shockwave quickly scanned over the data with his head recoiling back in what seemed like shock.

"Illogical." He finally said as if trying to convince himself that what he was seeing was wrong.

After doing a double take on the data Shockwave moved to grab another tube and loaded it into the device. Than began walking back over to jack.

"What are you doing?" asked jack rather nervously.

"Acquiring another sample." Answered shockwave as he prepared to draw more blood.

"Why?" was jacks next question.

"I require a fresh sample. In order to determine if the first sample is indeed accurate, or if it was merely a contaminated sample." Answered Shockwave again, and once again began to draw blood.

Once he had enough blood again he removed the device from Jack and headed back towards the console, with jack feeling light headed from lack of blood. Shockwave than for the second time scanned jacks blood, and after a few minutes the console made the noise once again. Shockwave than removed the second tube and poured some of Jack's blood onto a slide before placing it under a microscope.

"Fascinating." Said Shockwave as he continued to observe the blood sample.

"What's so fascinating?" asked Jack as he could feel the room spinning around him.

"Your life blood has very faint traces of CNA within it. Which I find highly intriguing." Said Shockwave as he continued to observe and test the sample.

"Cyber nucleic acid?" Said Jack to himself. He remembered Ratchet talking about it once. CNA was pretty much the equivalent to DNA, but Ratchet also said that it was dangerous to organics. That it could interfere with the organics own DNA strands, effectively killing it eventually.

This raised major red flags in Jacks head. If CNA would kill organics, then how long has it been in his system. And an even bigger question in his head was how long did he have left. Jack began to sweat and his breathing also increased.

"But shouldn't that be killing me?" asked Jack worryingly.

"That is the fascinating part. Your cells have somehow managed to bond with the CNA at the molecular level. Resulting with them now being stable, and being able to successfully continue to reproduce themselves at a normal rate." Answered Shockwave, clearly fascinated just as much as jack was about this development.

"B-but… How?" jack finally asked.

Shockwave didn't respond as he clearly had no answers to that question, and just continued to observe the sample.

After about ten minutes, Shockwave removed the slide and poured the blood into some kind of centrifuge and activated it. Next he walked back over to tubes and carried them over to a shelf where he gently placed them.

Now done with his tests, Shockwave began to walk towards the exit, after grabbing a data pad. In order to inform lord Megatron of this new development. But a voice stopped him.

"Hey! Where are you going?" asked Jack.

Shockwave gave no response and just continued to walk out of the room, with the doors closing shut behind him.

Jack let his head fall back against the cold metal berth he was currently strapped to, letting all this new information sink in.

'This won't end good for me.' Thought jack, with the scary part being he knew it was true.

(Top of Darkmount)

"The patch failed to reveal any new information on the whereabouts of the autobots." Said Shockwave to Megatron, who was currently sitting on his throne.

"hhhmmm. I see." Said Megatron disappointedly at this news. "and what of the pest."

"The human, in it's current state can not under go such a procedure. As it would destroy its processor before any information could be extracted." Answered Shockwave.

"Then it would seem that both Wheeljack and the pest have out lived with their usefulness." Said Starscream walking forward. "With your permission, lord Megatron." He said bowing. "I will see it to their immediate termination.

"Actually Starscream. I still further require the human." Stated Shockwave facing him.

"W-what? What could you possibly need that vermin for!" demanded Starscream.

Shockwave said nothing as he turned around and walked up to Megatron and handed him the data pad in his hand.

"What is this?" asked Megatron as he began reading over the data.

"My finding after testing the human to see if it could under go the procedure." Answered Shockwave as he began to step back from the throne.

Megatron read over the data for a few moments before his eyes widen in shock.

"Are you sure these findings are accurate?" demanded Megatron.

"I ran the test multiple times my liege. I can say with utmost certainty, that these finding are indeed accurate." Answered Shockwave.

"hhhmmm." Was all Megatron said as looked at the data for a second time. After reading it again he looked back to Shockwave.

"And what 'use' is the human regarding your work?" Megatron asked.

"The human will provide tremendous advancements in a project I have been working on, back on Cybertron. It may very well allow me to complete my work, and possibly expand the project." Said Shockwave.

Megatron seemed to think it over as he sat the data pad down and begin tapping his finger on his throne. After another few silent moments he looked up and over to Starscream.

"Starscream execute the wrecker. But leave the pest for Shockwave." He commanded.

"What! But master! What cou…" he stopped as Megatron began growling at him.

"Y-yes master" he finally said bowing, before turning around and walking away.

(Decepticon med bay)

Jack was laying on the berth wondering when something was going to happen. 'At this rate I'm going to die of boredom.' he thought.

Moments later the door to the med bay opened and entered Starscream along with a few other cons.

"Take the wrecker to the smelting pit." Ordered Starscream while pointing at Wheeljack. "and… tell him that the order of his execution was given out by myself." He added as an afterthought.

The cons said nothing and instead did as they were ordered, with them walking over to Wheeljack, and unbinding him before leave leaving with the wrecker.

"You should feel lucky human. Lord Megatron has decided to spare you." Said Starscream grudgingly. "But I have a feeling that will change soon enough." He added with a bit more of a gleeful tone.

And with that Starscream left just like the other, leaving jack all alone in the med bay once more.

'well that's a pleasant bit of information to know.' Thought jack, knowing that he may be killed now at any given moment.

(the smelting pit)

"Wake up wrecker." Commanded one of the cons, while hitting Wheeljack slightly.

Wheeljack groaned as he slowly lifted his head to see he was stand and was in stasis cuffs. As he looked around he saw more cons and that he was outside.

The cons holding him pushed him forward slightly towards the edge of the platform they were standing on. As Wheeljack looked down for a brief moment he saw a smelting pit.

"Time to smelt." The other con holding him said. "Commander Starscream wanted you conscious, so you know precisely who ordered your execution."

"And where is Screamy?" Wheeljack retorted. "Doesn't have the bearing to do this himself."

All he got in response was a hit from the con which made him nearly stagger over the edge. Wheeljack looked down at the smelting pit below and as he did an idea hit him.

"Jump" the con ordered as hit Wheeljack again.

"Hey, you a flier?" he asked the con while looking over his shoulder.

The con looked at him confused, but before he could respond Wheeljack hit him and quickly threw him over the edge. The other cons quickly pointed their blasters at Wheeljack in response.

"Ok, I'll jump." Wheeljack said as he then leapt off the edge down towards the smelting pit below.

The con he then threw off began changing and quickly change into an aircraft. Wheeljack then landed on the top of him as he began flying around.

"Thought so." Wheeljack said as the con continued flying, with him now starting to leave the smelting pit.

"Yyyyeeehhhaaa." Was all Wheeljack could say.

The other cons quickly jumped off the edge as well and transformed into aircrafts as well and began to chase the wrecker. Wheeljack then began hitting the con with his stasis cuffs, but soon stopped as the other cons began firing at him.

He then looked forward and saw that he was approaching a wall.

"Thanks for the ride." He said as he than jumped off of the con and landed on another, with the one he was just previously on crashing into the wall.

He then saw the other two cons making another pass and began firing at him again, with one of the shots hitting his stasis cuffs. Effectively breaking them. Not wasting any time Wheeljack quickly changed his fist into a blaster and began firing back at the cons. As one of the cons got close Wheeljack landed a shot on one with it spiraling out of control and into another wall of Darkmount.

The other cons continued firing at Wheeljack, but Wheeljack used the con he was riding to block the shots. He than began firing shots back at a con and before landing another few shots on one and it too exploded.

The con that Wheeljack was riding on began to descend towards the ground, with it them crashed into the ground moments later. Wheeljack then jumped off and transformed into his alt mode and began driving.

'Don't worry kid. We'll come back for ya.' Thought Wheeljack as he began to burn rubber, with Darkmount entering high alert.

(Decepticon med bay)

Jack was startled when an alarm began blaring over head, and he could hear it in the halls too.

'What's going on now?' he thought.

As if someone was reading his mind, his answer came when a voice was heard over the comms.

"Attention all personal. the wrecker has escaped, repeat the wrecker has escaped."

'Yes!' Jack thought. 'Go Wheeljack. Get out of here.'

For the first time in days Jack relaxed, as he knew the autobots had that much a better chance at beating the cons.

He only hoped that they could.

(with bulkhead and Miko)

Bulkhead was looking over at the horizon, wondering if Wheeljack was ever going to show up. He looked over to his left and saw that Miko was asleep against him.

'About time.' He thought. 'She hasn't slept in about a day.'

All of a sudden there was a noise that caught Bulkhead's attention, as it sounded like a motor.

Standing back up he quickly woke Miko up with, "Miko wake up."

Miko yawned as she sat up and looked over to Bulkhead tiredly, before asking. "Why?"

Bulkhead changed one hand into a blaster while he changed the other into a mace.

"Someone's coming." Was all he said.

Bulkhead than pointed his blaster at the road towards where the noise was coming from. But as it got closer and closer, the noise became clear and clear. Eventually to the point where bulkhead knew who's engine that was.

Deactivating his blaster and mace he said. "I'd know the hum of that engine anywhere." As he began running forward.

Sure enough Wheeljack came screeching around the corner and drove up towards bulkhead, before stopping. As soon as he transformed Bulkhead was on him pulling him into a bear hug.

"Ha-ha, Jackie! How ya been buddy!" he said as he began squeezing tighter.

"Catching up with a few little dance partners." Grunted Wheeljack as he could feel his plating begin to dent from the hug.

Miko wasted no time snapping a picture as she was glad to see her friend was okay.

"Glad to see ya kid. Safe to assume were the only three wreckers around." Said Wheeljack as he stood all heroically.

"So what are we waiting for let's do some damage." Said Miko excitedly.

"So what's your next move Jackie?" asked Bulkhead. "Circle back too base?"

"There is no base. Cons blasted it to dust." Said Wheeljack as he gestured to Bulkhead and Miko to play along as he pulled out the tracker that Starscream had placed on him.

Both were initially shocked but both played along with Wheeljack.

He than began walking over to the river that was next to the road and put the tracker on log that was sitting on the shore. While also putting a grenade on it was well, before pushing it into the river. All three than quickly moved down stream and got into position. As they watched the cons landed on the other side of the river.

Miko watched excitedly as the log started to approach the group of con. She then heard bulkhead say, "Targets in range." With one con soon grabbing the log and turning it over.

"And boom." Was all Wheeljack said as he pulled the trigger, and the cons were engulfed in the explosion.

"How'd ya know the cons planted a tracker on you?" asked Miko.

"I figured the cons were up to something. So I did a little poking around under my hood." Answered Wheeljack.

"Ha-ha that's my Jackie." Said Bulkhead approvingly.

"So what are next move?" asked Miko as she couldn't for more action.

"I salvaged ammunitions from the jackhammer on my way out." Said Wheeljack as he transformed back into his alt mode. "You thought that was loud? Just wait." As he began driving.

Bulkhead quickly transformed as well and Miko jumped in, as they began to chase after Wheeljack.

(with the decepticons)

So not only did you fail to destroy the autobots, but you let allowed their numbers to increase." Snapped Megatron at Starscream. "Is there no one who can bring me their heads!?"

"If I may lord Megatron" said Shockwave as he walked forward. "During my exile on Cybertron, I resumed work on a long dormant project." As he than pulled up a file on the main monitor. "one that I believe may provide a solution to our current problem."

"Cyber Nucleic Acid?" questioned knockout.

"The building blocks of all cybertronian life. This hails from a specimen I excavated on upon our planet." Continued shockwave. "And thanks to the human I may be able to finally finish my work"

"And what does the human have to do with this?" questioned Starscream.

Shockwave then pulled up another file that was displayed next to the original.

"After performing the physic patch on Wheeljack, I began to look at the human's genetic makeup. To determine if it could possibly under go the same procedure. However during my research, I made an incredible find." Shockwave began to explain to the others.

"Really? And what would that be? Asked Starscream annoyed.

"While test the humans genetic make up. I found traces of CNA within its own genetic makeup." Answer Shockwave as he turned around to look at Starscream.

"What! That's not possibly! There is no way that that vermin could have CNA inside of it!" protested Starscream angrily.

"I was shocked by the find myself. But after running the test multiple time, I can assure you that the human does indeed have CNA in it genetic makeup." Replied Shockwave.

"The autobots continue to evade us. What makes you think we can afford to wait for the answer to our prayers to be… berthed in some laboratory?" was Starscream's next questions.

"You miss understand the subject is nearly cultivated, all I require is a few strain of the humans CNA to complete the project. And then transport it from my laboratory on Cybertron." Responded Shockwave, leading to Starscream's optics widening in shock.

"Then by all means. Take what you need from the pest, and activate the spacebridge." Said Megatron as he than looked at Starscream. "Starscream once Shockwave is done with the pest bring him to me" he then ordered.

(Decepticon med bay)

Jack was brought out of any thoughts he might have had when the door to the med bay opened up and in walked Shockwave and Starscream.

'What now' he thought.

Shockwave walked over to the console at the end of the room and quickly began transferring the files on Jack over to his laboratory on Cybertron. Once done he grabbed the device he had now use twice before and began to approach Jack.

"Don't you have enough?!" questioned Jack angrily.

"I require a fresh sample to complete a long dormant project." Said Shockwave as he then began to extract blood once again. Once done Shockwave than put the device away after taking the tube out.

"I am finished with the subject. You may now bring him to lord Megatron." Shockwave said looking at Starscream before walking out of room.

Starscream growled in annoyance and walked up to Jack before taking him out of his restraints and putting him back ino the glass cube.

Jack made little noise during the whole thing, deciding it was better to just be quite rather than make noise and get Starscream even angrier.

Once inside the cube. Starscream picked up the cube and left the med bay to bring Jack to Megatron. After walking down many hallways, Starscream approached some kind of lift before stepping on. As soon as he was on the lift began to rise, and after a few moments the lift stopped on the top floor and Starscream stepped off.

Jack looked around and saw that this was most likely Megatron's throne room, as evident by the throne at the end of the room with Megatron currently sitting in it.

Starscream quickly walked up to the throne and bowed before saying. "I have brought the pest as you requested master."

"Give me the boy." Ordered Megatron while holding out his servo.

Starscream waste no time in handing Jack over to Megatron. Once the cube that Jack was inside of was in Megatron's servo he was quickly brought to eye level with the warlord.

"You should fortunate right now boy. Do you know why?" said Megatron while looking at Jack tense with fear and beginning too pale.

"Thanks to your 'unique' bio traits, you have now allowed the Decepticon cause to gain an ever greater edge in this war." Megatron continued gloating.

"And what would that be?" asked Jack in a somewhat timid voice.

Megatron chuckled before responding. "You will see soon enough." And with that he placed jacks cube on the arm of his throne and rested his servo on top of it.

For the next thirty minutes nothing happened as the cons and Jack waited for Shockwave to return. Megatron was now become impatient and was now tapping Jack's cube with his finger, causing jack to wince at the noise.

Finally, the space bridge opened up at the end of the room, and Shockwave came walking out.

"I present to you my liege." He said bowing, before gesturing to the portal. "The ultimate autobot hunter."

Just moments after saying that a monstrous figure began to emerge from the portal. All who were present with even Megatron looking at the creature in shock as it exited the ground bridge.

Megatron then stood up from his throne as the creature let out a terrifying roar.

And done.

Thank you so much to those who are now fallowing this story. I first thought when I was posting this story that no one would ether read it. Or people would be criticizing me like mad men. So I'm glad to see people are enjoying it.

I will try have another chapter up in a few days, but as always I can't guaranty anything.

Until next time. This is the forgotten solider signing off.


	3. Chapter 3

Dark Scimitar: glad you are enjoying this story.

Ohmygiddyaunt: I hope you are liking it. *return evil grin* ;)

Now on with the story.

Megatron grinned at the beast that was now standing before him. While other like Starscream and Knockout showed faces of fear and began walking backwards away from the beast. Jack's expression was no better, as he paled whiter than a ghost and jaw dropped into total awe and shock.

'They made a dragon!' Jack thought, because standing before them was what one could describe as a dragon. It walked on four legs and had massive claws. A tail that was spiked with razor sharp blade on the end. Wings that were currently folded on it back, and a head that looked like a dragon, with the exception of that its mouth. Which opened in four pieces instead of a normal mouth.

The beast let out another roar as it stood at its full height which towered over even Megatron.

"A predacon… they-they've been extinct since the beginning of cybertronian history." Said Starscream in complete shock.

"Indeed." Replied Shockwave as he began walking up to the beast. "But the specimen you see before was breed in the laboratory. Cloned from fossilised remains which I discovered on Cybertron, and infused with the CNA which I extracted from the human."

"Shockwave… it does my spark good to see once again tampering with creation." Said Megatron as he began walking towards the beast.

"Master please… keep your distance." Said Starscream in worryingly.

"No need for alarm." Said Shockwave to lower tensions. "The beast is completely under my control."

The beast lowered its head to look at Megatron as he looked at the creature in awe. "Such primal magnificence."

"A sample of energon. From Wheeljack, spilled during the autobots failed interrogation." Shockwave said as he pulled out a small cylinder filled with energon, as he brought it up to the predicon.

The beast then lowered its head so it's eye was right in front of the cylinder, with it then beginning to scan it.

"Let the hunt begin" Megatron announced in an approving tone.

The beast than began to turn around before running to the edge of the open room and taking off flying to where ever Wheeljack had run off to.

'This is so not good!' Jack thought as he watched the beast fly off and into the distance. 'Guys… RUN!'

Megatron turned back around and then began walking back towards his throne. As he sat down again he picked up the cube Jack was in and brought him to his face.

"So you see now boy… the roll you have played in the autobots demise." He said as Jack looked back to where the predicon flew off to. Worried about his friends.

"Shockwave. Do you still require the pest? Or am I now able to… properly dispose of it?" asked Megatron, which made Jack's heart rate increase in worry.

"The human was the key to completing the project my liege. But I still wish to study it further, to determine if it is possible to infuse greater amounts of CNA into its own biostructure."

"Hhmmm. Very well." Replied Megatron, who then held out the cube that Jack was in for Shockwave to take, which he did before bowing once more. He than turned around and began walking towards the lift.

"And Shockwave." Megatron said getting the mechs attention one more. "Do see if you can find another use for the pest besides an object for you to… gather information from."

"As you wish my liege." Was all Shockwave said as he began descending down on the lift.

A few moments pasted before the silence was broken by Starscream.

"Master surly you are not going allow Shockwave to keep that vermin?" he asked.

"So long as the 'pest' continues to advance the Decepticon cause. I will allow Shockwave to keep it, and use it as he pleases." Megatron replied before continuing. "But when it is no longer of any use. I will personally see it to its termination."

Starscream didn't seemed to pleased with the answer. But said nothing otherwise.

(with the wreckers)

"Guys, you know I'm for all blowing the scrap out stuff. But what does flatting a Decepticon mine have to do with getting the band back together and taking down Megatron?" asked Miko.

"Simple when we light up this place. The blast will be big, and unmistakable." Answered Wheeljack.

"Any autobot within 500 klicks will see the sky glowing with energon and come running." Fallowed up Bulkhead.

"Then bring the rain." Miko said excitedly.

"You know it kid, and the faster we get the band back together. The faster we can get back to Darkmount." Wheeljack said determinedly.

"Hey Jackie. Why are you in such a hurry to get back there?" wondered Bulkhead.

"Cause I wasn't the only one trapped there." Replied Wheeljack.

"WOAH! Wait a minute, you mean someone else is a prisoner of the cons too." Asked Miko.

All Wheeljack did was nod as he continued to scout out the entrance to the mine.

"Well who was it?" asked Bulkhead.

"Jack." Answered Wheeljack.

"Wait. You mean mister responsible got caught too?" asked Miko with all Wheeljack doing was nod.

"How's he doing?" wondered Bulkhead.

"Kids tough as scrap. I'll give him that. But he may not stay that way if we take to long." Wheeljack said as he turned to look at them.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's light this thing so we can bust him out." Said Miko excitedly.

Wheeljack smirked and turned to look at Bulkhead who nodded. Wheeljack also nodded, and with that they got into action.

(some time later)

The trio had just jumped onto a lift of an unknown spacecraft. But at the moment it didn't matter. What mattered was that they get away from what Miko called a 'dragon'. They had hit it with everything they had. But they didn't even leave a scratch on it.

As the lift stopped inside the ship they all saw Arcee standing there.

"Arcee!" said Bulkhead. He lowered Miko so she was on the ground and walked up to her before pulling her into a friendly hug.

As he let her go Wheeljack spoke up. "Thanks for the save."

"Thank the commander." She replied as she pointed to who was flying the ship.

"Soldiers" said Ultra Magnus as he continued to fly the ship.

"You?" Wheeljack replied a bit shocked and disappointment in seeing him again.

"Ultra Magnus! It's an honour." Said Bulkhead.

"It's an honour 'sir'" corrected Ultra Magnus.

"Guess blowing that mine made up pretty easy to spot." Said Wheeljack.

"Ultra Magnus already had a b on your signals… and mine." Said Arcee with the last part coming out a little quieter. "Care to tell us what's nipping at our tailpipe?"

"We think it's a robot dragon." Said Miko.

As Ultra Magnus continued to fly the ship, he saw that the beast was now unleashing fire from its mouth and it was directly coming at them. "Brace yourselves." He warned as he they began making sharp turns.

As the ship rocked from the turn Bulkhead picked up Miko. Eventually Ultra Magnus flipped over the ship so that the beast was now in front of them, and began fire at it with the ships weapons. But that didn't last long as the beast entered a cloud and they lost visual of it. When they regained visual however it was not how they wanted it. As the beast was facing them and once again unleashed fire from its mouth, which hit the ship slightly.

Forcing to go on the defensive. Ultra Magnus began flying away from the beast, trying to put some distance between them and it. However, it didn't last long as they soon felt it land on top of the ship, and bring it's face right in front of the window for them to see, startling everyone.

However, as they all thought that this could be the end. A noise began to come from one of the ships controls, which lead too Ultra Magnus descending down into a canyon. Ultra Magnus than began trying to knock the beast off by smashing it into the canyon walls.

Soon they reached the end off the canyon and Ultra Magnus pulled the ship into a steep climb. As they reached the top he flipped the ship over and the predicon was knocked off as it hit the top of a hill.

"I think we lost it." Wheeljack stated as he began to stand up once more.

"I think we lost it 'sir" corrected Ultra Magnus.

All Wheeljack did was frown before grumbling under his breath.

(hours later)

Ultra Magnus lowered ship down onto the ground as they reach the last two sets of autobot signals. As everyone stepped out they saw Ratchet, Bee, and Raf.

"Raf!" Yelled Miko as she began running up to him.

He also run up to her as they both embraced each other in a hug.

"Your alive" said Ratchet to everyone in relief.

As the others began walking off of the lift Ratchet and Bee spotted Ultra Magnus.

"Ultra Magnus?" asked Ratchet in disbelief.

"Doctor." Ultra Magnus replied in return.

"What no sir?" questioned Wheeljack, with Ultra Magnus just sending a glare his way.

"Where's Jack" asked Raf now seeing that one of his friends was not present.

"He was caught by the Cons." Arcee said sadly as she lowered her head.

"Well is he alright?" asked Raf again in worry.

"Don't worry kid, he was doing fine last I checked." Answered Wheeljack.

"And how would you know that?" Asked Arcee who now brought her head up to look at the wrecker.

"We were cell buddy's." Joked Wheeljack, but was quickly knocked on the ground by the femme.

"You mean he was with you at Darkmount and you just left him!?" asked Arcee angrily.

"I didn't have a choice. We weren't together when I made my escape, and if did go back I would of just been recaptured." Answered Wheeljack as he began to sit up while stretching his neck because of the hit.

"Soldier!" came in Ultra Magnus's voice "Restrain yourself."

Arcee look back to Wheeljack and sent a glare his way before replying in a somewhat grudgingly tone. "Yes sir." She then took a few steps back to join the others.

"Now soldier why don't you explain what happened and why you left a comrade behind." Ordered Ultra Magnus.

Wheeljack signed as he began standing up to begin explaining what happened.

"Shortly after I was brought into Darkmount. Starscream brought the kid into my cell and began torturing us for information. I… was tempted to give the cons what they wanted as it was Optimus's rule to never let a human come to harm. But before I said anything the kid told me to not say a thing. That he could handle it." Wheeljack stated.

Arcee looked down with a somewhat sad smile. Knowing that would be something Jack would say, and knowing that he was still putting up a fight.

"So for the next few days we remained in the same cell, where we were interrogated. Soon after they took us out of our cell and into their med bay where Shockwave…" continued Wheeljack but was cut off.

"Wait! Shockwave! Are you certain?" questioned Arcee.

"If you mean a con with one optic named Shockwave then yes. Now where was I. oh ya. So anyways Shockwave tried to get intel out of my head using a cortical physic patch but he didn't know where to look so he didn't find out I did know where to find you guys. But during the procedure I was forced into recharge, next time I woke up I was about to be smelted. After a brief fight with the cons I managed to escape, and well you know the rest." Finished Wheeljack as he looked over at Bulkhead and Miko.

"Haha, that's my Jackie." Said Bulkhead as he lightly hit Wheeljack on the shoulder.

Arcee seemed to cool down a bit after that as she knew he made the right decision. She may of not liked it, but it was still the right call. The only thing she could find comfort in was that Jack was still alive and putting up a fight.

After that the conversation seem to divide into multiple ones. Bulkhead, Wheeljack, Arcee and bumblebee making one, while Ratchet and Ultra Magnus made their own conversation. However, the conversations were soon brought to a halt when a loud sound began emanate from the sky. Everyone turned to look and soon saw agent Fowler's jet coming closer.

Ultra Magnus however, didn't know this and instinctually became ready to shot at the target. But before he was able to do so, Bulkhead and Arcee put themselves in between Ultra Magnus and the jet.

"Don't shot" said Arcee while Bulkhead said "It's fowler he's with us."

Ultra Magnus listened in not firing but still kept his weapons primed just in case. The jet landed and Fowler along with June stepped out. When she saw the two kids she immediately ran up to them and pulled them into a hug.

"You kids alright?" she asked in a worried tone, and both children nodded.

"Good. Your families are safe. Agent fowler saw to it that Jasper was evacuated in time." She then said, and both Miko and Raf exhaled in relief.

As June looked around she saw Arcee, but as she looked around more she didn't see Jack.

"Where is he?!" she asked her in a worried tone.

"June. I'm sorry, I… I tried but… the cons captured him." Arcee said in a low voice as she lowered herself down onto one knee.

June looked like she was just hit with a truck as she began stuttering in disbelief, but soon looked back to Arcee. This time with a face full of anger.

"What do you mean he was captured! You were suppose to protect him! How did you lose him?!" she asked angrily.

"I went to scout ahead because I thought I saw a con. But it wasn't, when I was about to return the cons came out nowhere and went straight towards Jack. I tried to get to him… but by the time I got there… the cons had already taken him through their ground bridge. I'm sorry." She replied in a soft voice as she looked at the ground.

June's glare disappeared and was soon replace with a look of sadness.

"It's ok Arcee. I know you tried everything you could." She said as she pulled Arcee into the best hug she could manage, which Arcee gladly returned.

"So where are the others?" asked June as she now noticed that Smokescreen and Optimus were not with them.

"The only signals Ultra Magnus was able to isolate are standing right here." Replied Arcee.

"Maybe his scanner is faulty" piped in Wheeljack.

"So the kid's unaccounted for." Said bulkhead.

"Smokescreen bridged out unaccompanied, only Optimus knows where." Ratchet said gaining everyone's attention.

"And Optimus remained behind. To destroy the ground bridge, to ensure everyone else… made to safety." He continued.

"I… watched the base go down. No one or thing walked out of there." Said fowler sadly.

"Not from what we could see." Replied June trying to give everyone a little hope.

"Even if prime survived. I'm not sure we can afford to wait for him to show up. Not with Megatron holding our planet hostage, not from his high and mighty perch at Darkmount." Stated Fowler.

"I would be inclined to agree with the native life form." Ultra Magnus said gaining everyone's attention. "We must stop Megatron with or with out Optimus prime" he then stated.

(Shockwave's lab aboard the nemesis)

Jack was still currently stuck inside of the glass cube. After Shockwave took Jack he had brought him here, and had ran more test on him. What these tests were for, Jack didn't know. All he did know was that the last few had been fairly painful. With one of them being Shockwave cutting a small bit of his flesh along his arm out. Not enough to cause any real damage but enough for it to hurt really badly.

After taking the sample Shockwave tended the wound and was now studying it under a microscope while injecting it with something.

Finally the silence was killing him so he decided to see if he could possibly pass time by striking up a conversation with the con.

"So… what is it are you trying to do?" he asked.

Shockwave stopped what he was doing to turn around and look at Jack. He looked at him for a few seconds before turning around to continue his work.

"I am currently see to what extent can your bio structure can be altered." He replied.

"What do you mean?" continued to question jack.

"By seeing how much of your bio structure or 'DNA', as your informational system calls it. I can determine how much CNA I will be able to administrate into you." Said Shockwave as he continues to study the sample.

Jack struggled to understand what Shockwave was talking about but eventually caught on.

"But why? What is there to gain by doing that?" he asked.

Shockwave this time though gave no reply and just continued to work on the sample. Jack huffed in annoyance and started tapping his knee with his fingers. Hours seemed to go by and the whole time the room was nearly dead silent. It wasn't broken until finally Shockwave said something.

"Fascinating" he said.

"What is?" asked Jack.

"From this last experiment, I can now conclude that I am able to completely alter your bio structure." Replied Shockwave.

Jack understood what he meant this time, and remembered his mom telling him about something like this. 'Didn't she say that you can't alter to many gens because our DNA hadn't evolved to a point to handle it.' He thought. It was part of the reason why infusing gens from animals into humans wasn't being done. The human DNA just couldn't handle the changes, and would begin to decay shortly after it was altered.

"But that impossibly." He said in disbelief.

"I also find it hard to believe. But I can assure you that your genetic structure can be completely altered." Shockwave said as he put the sample away.

Before he could do anything else, the doors to his lab opened and Soundwave walked in.

"What is it you require Soundwave?" asked Shockwave as he knew the only reason Soundwave would come here is if he needed something of him.

"Tell Shockwave to come to my throne, as his beast has returned." Came Megatron's voice from a recording which Soundwave played.

"Of course." Was all Shockwave said as he than turned with Soundwave and began to leave the room. Leaving Jack all alone in the room once more, in complete silence.

'Why me?' he thought. 'Well at least it can't get any worse.'

(top of Darkmount)

"What a grave disappointment this must be for you master." Said Starscream as looked at Megatron. "And to make matters worse, because it can not speak, we have no way of knowing why the predacon failed so miserably." He continued. "Poor mute mindless creature."

The predacon seemed tense up in anger to that comment and began to lightly growl. Megatron was quiet for a few moments before he looked at Shockwave.

"Shockwave. Why do you think the beast failed me?" he asked.

Shockwave stopped petting the predacon and turned around to face Megatron.

"If I were to make an educated guess. I would predict that the predacon failed because it simply had to many targets to keep track of. And this lead to the autobots overwhelming it, and managing to escape." Answered Shockwave, after some thought.

"hhhmmm. So what you are saying is that the beast may have failed, because there was not enough of them?" continued to questioned Megatron, with Shockwave just merely nodded in response.

"And how long would it take to create more of them?" was his next question.

"If I were to begin right way from scratch. It would roughly take between one orn, and three orns." said Shockwave.

"Is there anyway to hasten the process?" asked Megatron.

"After continuing my studies on the human I have concluded that I can successful alter it's bio structure. However, this can only be done once. As after that its structure will become too unstable to attempt another alteration. But if I were to use the boy. May be able to turn it into a predacon." Explained Shockwave.

"What? Are you seriously considering in turning the pest into something like the beast that is standing right behind you?" questioned Starscream, but was given no acknowledgement by ether Megatron or Shockwave.

"And how long would it take to turn the pest into a predacon?" asked Megatron who was currently interested in where this was heading.

"Given from what I now know of the specimen, I calculate it may only take a few solar cycles for the change to be complete." Answered Shockwave.

"Even if you did manage to change the pest, there is still one problem. That being its loyal to the autobots!" explained Starscream angrily.

"Starscream does have a point Shockwave. How can you assure me that the pest simple doesn't try and destroy us once it under goes the transformation?" Megatron asked, as he saw what Starscream was getting at.

"If I were to conduct the experiment. once the transformation was complete I would wipe its processor to ensure that it doesn't have any allegiance or memory of the enemy." Said Shockwave, leading Starscream to gasp slightly in shock. Megatron grinned evilly at this news and began to chuckle.

"Then by all mean Shockwave, begin with the experiment." He said.

"At once my liege." Replied Shockwave as he bowed before turning around and walking away.

Once he was out of ear shot, Starscream spoke up.

"Master. Surely you are not thinking on using that vermin?" He asked.

"Think of this as a way to get inside of Optimus's head. If he were to eventually learn that one of his most trusted humans was now a beast under my command. He would take any risks necessary to get the human back, and that will be what we need to bring him to his demise." Said Megatron ominously.

'Yes… count what little time you have left Optimus. Because your end is soon approaching. And just to insult you further, your most trusted human will be my pet and beast to command.' And with that began chuckling evilly.

(authors notes)

And that's all for this chapter.

Thankyou as always to those who have taken time out of there day to read this story. And thankyou to those who are leaving reviews. You guys are awesome.

Just a side note orn = 1 month. While solar cycle = 1 day.

I will try and have another chapter up in a few days' time. But as always I can't promise anything.

Now that you know Jack will become a predacon. What do you think he will look like? Leave a comment on what you think he should look like.

This is the forgotten soldier signing off.


	4. Chapter 4

LuisJM: glad to see your excited ;)

Icefiremedia: thankyou. As for the phoenix idea I don't think I can work with that itself but it does give me an idea for later on. What that is you will have to wait and see. Thanks for the review.

PenPanther: you got it, it will fly.

Wolfgirl: I am going to make him slightly smaller, but he will still be fairly large. Hope that's ok. Sorry about the colours, I know you wanted him to be blueish but for an idea I have later on, I just don't think it would work. However, I thought about giving him his name from one of the other transformer series, based off of your comment so thanks for the idea.

Hcharper131: I thought it was good idea, but I couldn't quite get it to sound right and still have it work with an idea that I have planned for later. But I plan on trying to incorporate some of Byakko features into his look. So I hope that is ok. Thankyou for the review and the idea, it was an interesting one.

Guest: JackxArcee we'll see ;)

Drager: jack will become a predicon but I tried to keep some organic features in his design with the other ideas. Hope that's ok.

Inkboltraven: dragon… you got it.

Unknown: sorry his eyes will not be blue or his colour but I will put some of Azure-Eyes Silver Dragon features along with everyone else's ideas into his design.

Sorry this took so long to get out. I had some important things in life that I needed to focus on before I could do this chapter. But for a while I should be able to get a few chapters up.

Now on with the story…

(with the autobots)

"Autobot" said Ultra Magnus getting everyone attention. "We remain vastly out numbered, and despite our ammunitions. Do not currently possess the fire power necessary to compromise the Decepticon citadel."

"Uncle Sam's military does." Fowler said as everyone turned to look at him. "I just can't let them make a move as long as Megatron's ray guns are pointed at Washington."

"Then we must infiltrate Darkmount, in order to nullify its fusion cannons." Responded Ultra Magnus.

"Unfortunately, it seems the fortress is heavily shielded against unauthorized ground bridges." Said Ratchet before adding. "Even those originating from Decepticon technology." As he pointed to a monitor showing the citadel.

"Guess we'll have to sneak past enemy lines… wrecker style." Said Wheeljack as he smashed his fist together.

"I couldn't deal with 'wrecker style' back on Cybertron, and I refuse to deal with it here." Responded Ultra Magnus, with Wheeljack sending a small glare at him.

"Now we require a means of thinning out the decepticons ranks if we are to have any hopes of completing this mission." Continued Ultra Magnus. "Or of surviving it." he than added.

"So how are we going to be going about doing this sir?" asked Arcee.

"First thing we must do is come up with an idea on how to draw the decepticons outside the citadel." Responded Ultra Magnus.

"Just leave that to us." Said Wheeljack as he grabbed Bulkheads shoulder plating. "Were wreckers… if there's one thing we know how to do. Its getting the enemies attention." He than added as he looked at Ultra Magnus with a smug grin.

Ultra Magnus grumbled to himself before responding in a grudgingly tone. "Very well, soldier. You and your comrade will be in charge of gaining the enemies attention."

"But what about the dragon?" questioned Miko as everyone looked at her. "The moment you guys try anything the cons are just going to send it after you again." She stated.

"I think I may have an idea." Spoke up Raf. "Ratchet you said the shielding was to prevent ground bridging with in the citadel right?" he asked.

"Yes, but what does that have to do with dealing with the predicon?" questions Ratchet.

"If we could use the bridge in the surrounding area we don't need to deal with it. We just need to draw it out. Then we can use the bridge to send it some where else on earth that way its out of the way." Said Raf with the others looking impressed.

"Gotta say. That ones a bright one." Stated Wheeljack, with bee beeping in pride at his friend for his idea.

"But that still doesn't answer where to send it." Said Arcee.

"Oh why not to the artic?" suggested Miko. "its like… the middle of winter there and I remember in geography class that there is suppose to be a big storm there for the next few days. We send it there and it will be nothing more than a frozen statue." She added excitedly.

Everyone looked at Miko now in shock.

"Now I'm going to say I didn't see that one coming." stated Arcee.

"Good idea." Said Ultra Magnus before turning to Ratchet. "Then I shall deal with bringing out the predicon so that you can transport it to its destination." All ratchet did was nod. Ultra Magnus than turned to Bumblebee and Arcee. "Then that leaves you two with infiltrating the citadel itself, and taking out its fusion canons. Then the native can call upon its military to destroy the citadel." he added with the last part looking at agent Fowler.

"Any questions?" he than asked.

"Wait! What about my partner." Said Arcee, gaining Ultra Magnus's attention. "He may still be in the citadel. If we blow it up with him still inside, he may die when it collapses, sir." She added worryingly.

"hhmmm." Said Ultra Magnus as he thought it over. "Our main priority still remains that we take down the citadel. However, if you come cross him 'after' you take down the fusion canons then we shall retrieve him."

Arcee looked torn for a moment. She wanted to say to scrap with that, but knew it was futile. And the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. If she found him before they took down the fusion canons then they would have a liability on their hands, and keeping him safe would be a problem. No… as much as it hurt her to say it, it was there best option.

"Yes sir." She replied as she lowered her head.

With that out of the way Ultra Magnus turned to look at Fowler. "How long will it take to organize a strike team from your military?" he asked.

Agent Fowler brought his hand to his chin as he thought about it. "It depends. I would first need to get clearance from the president, to even be allowed to commence such a mission. After that I need to get a hold of the pentagon and get a strike team together. It could take only a few hours… but it could also take a few days." He stated.

Ultra Magnus had a bit of difficulty following what Fowler was saying as he didn't know earth terms or of it organizations. But the general meaning got to him. Nodding he said "Then it is best if you get in contact with your government. The faster that team is ready, the faster we can take down Darkmount."

Agent Fowler nodded before turning around to pull out his phone and began making calls.

(Shockwave's lab the next day)

Shockwave looked at a monitor that showed the vitals of a creature that was currently floating inside some kind of chamber. On the monitor showed the before results and the current ones. On the before one showed a scan of Jack. But the second scan showed something very different.

As Shockwave began making the last few adjustments to the creature, as it suddenly began to wake up momentarily. Its eyes showing a mixture of red and orange giving them a fire like appearance. But just as quickly as they opened, the creature closed them again as it began to rest once more.

The monitor let out a beeping sound signaling that the last of the mutations had finished. But before Shockwave could let it out of it's chamber he need to wipe its processor to insure it did not remember anything prior to it transformation.

Taking a needle like device Shockwave walked over to the chamber and inserted it to a side access hatch. The needle then moved into the chamber and began to insert itself at the back of the creature's head. Shockwave than walked back over to the monitor and began typing in commands after a short while an electrical shock emitted itself from the needle and into the creature as it let out a deep grumble.

With the last task complete Shockwave walked over to another monitor and pressed a button.

"Soundwave. Could you please tell lord Megatron that I have completed the human's transformation and will be bringing it to the throne room." He said with a segment of his sentence replaying back to him. "Bring it to the throne room."

Shockwave then disconnected the call and walked back over to the chamber and removed the devise from the side and put it away once more. Once that was done he walked back over to the monitor, and put in a sequence of commands. As soon as he was done the liquid in the chamber began to lower and the creature began to open its eyes once more. Moments later Shockwave released the hatch to the glass and the creature stepped out as its claws dug slightly into the floor. Shockwave looked at his work for a moment before walking towards it to do one final examination.

(Megatron's throne room)

Just as before Megatron sat on his throne his throne as he tapped his finger on it out of boredom. Just off to his left was were the first predacon laid as it waited for its creator and this supposedly second predicon.

As before a ground bridge opened up and Shockwave walked through once more. "I now present to you my liege, the autobots former human pet." He said as the creature walked through the bridge.

Everyone watched in awe as the creature emerged from the portal. It was big, not nearly as big as the first predacon, but still bigger than any cybertronian. Its jaw was a two piece, unlike the first predacon and was lined with many sharp jagged teeth. It had a long head with spikes coming out of the sides heading backwards. It had a long slim body and leg that look a lot like that of a feline with large claws. It had large wings on its back that were also lined with two large spikes in the middle fold. It also had spikes along its back that ran all the way down to its tail, which was also spiked. But what was different was that unlike the first predacon which had large plating covering its body. This one had millions of small plating all interconnected in a scale like design. To add to that, they were less shiny and had an almost flesh like look to them. Its colours was very much like that of its eyes, with its colour being red, orange, and even some yellow, giving it a fire like appearance.

Just like the first predacon it let out a roar but unlike the first this one was much deeper, as it hurt most of who were present audio receptors.

Megatron grinned in approval at what Shockwave had turn the pest into. 'I can't wait to see the look on primes face' he thought.

"This… this is what you turned the pest into?" asked Starscream in disbelief.

"Indeed." Was all Shockwave said as he walked towards Megatron.

"Excellent work Shockwave. Now how did you insure that the beast will remain loyal to me?" asked Megatron.

Before Shockwave could answer the first predacon got up and approached the second one, as it turned towards the first. Soon both began making noises as if they were communicating, this went on for a few moments before both began roaring loudly at one another.

This caused everyone to watch as they continued roaring but after a few moments the second predacon seemed to become intimidated by the first and began to lower it head in a sign of submission.

"That is one way the beast shall remain loyal to you my liege." Said Shockwave as he turned back towards Megatron before continuing. "By not making it as strong as the first, the first shall remain dominate over the second and will insure that it follows your orders. I also wiped the predacon's memory, it now has no memory from before its transformation." he then stated.

Megatron ginned evilly at this and got up from his throne to walk towards the predacons.

"Excellent. Now I don't have just one beast, but two." He said as the two predicons turned towards him.

"hhhmmm. What next, you going to name them?" joked Knockout.

"Actually Knockout. I was about to suggest that to lord Megatron." Stated Shockwave.

"What why?" questioned Knockout.

"Trying to direct orders to them will become difficult if they are merely called beasts, and will become confused as to which one is being ordered what. By giving them designations, we can avoid this and they can operate more effectively." Answered Shockwave as he turned to look at him.

"Than what should we call them?" asked Knockout.

"I shall be the one to decide that knockout." Stated Megatron as he continued to look at his beasts.

"Now what should we call you?" he said as he looked at the first predacon. "since you are my alpha, we shall call you… Predaking." He then stated, as the predicon now named Predaking straightened up in pride at its name. Megatron then turned to look at the second. "Now what should we call you?" he than added.

"Master. You are not surly thinking about naming that pest?" asked Starscream as he pointed to the second predacon.

Having enough of hearing from the con the second predicon proceeded to launch fire from its mouth which Starscream barely avoided by ducking. But the spike on top of his head was still heated up from the fire, which caused him to scream before trying to cool it off with his servo.

"Ha! Looks like you got scourged for that one Starscream!" joked Knockout, with Starscream sending a glare his way.

"And aided in giving an idea for a name for my beast." Stated Megatron as he turned back to the predacon. "We shall call you… Scourge." He said and the predacon now named Scourge seemed to like the name by the sound it made, as Megatron than began to chuckle.

'Oh, the look on primes face will be priceless!' Megatron thought.

And thanks it for this chapter. I know its not that long but I felt it was a good place to leave off. So ya, Jack has become… Scourge! I hope everyone is okay with how he looks/sounds. I tried to get most comments ideas into his design. If you are not happy with how he looks feel free to insult me, I can take it.

But there you have, I will try and have another chapter up in a few days' time again, and as always I can't promise it.

Until next time, this is the forgotten soldier signing off.


	5. Chapter 5

Ohmygiddyaunt: glad to hear your enjoying :)

MandyTheHedgie: I hope to get more reaction like that, thanks.

LuisJM: sorry about that. I was thinking about that but I didn't want to give away what he looked like. I know I could have worked around it, but I felt it was best just to leave it out, sorry. But I'm glad to see you're still enjoying it.

Guest: thankyou, as for what type of predicon he is he's across between Scourge from Transformers Cybertron and an OC.

Guest: no this won't be a Predikingxjack story.

William Sullivan: no this version of Scourge looks some what like the one from Transformers Cybertron, but a bit different and he only has one head.

Thankyou to those who reviewed, and that are fallowing this story. Now on with the story…

(Side dialog)

 **Bold "beast talk"**

 _Italic "cybertronian"_

(with the autobots)

The autobots had been busy as they were now ready to infiltrate Darkmount. They had sent Miko and June to two separate locations and make fake calls to draw some of the decepticons away from Darkmount. They even tricked the cons into thinking that one of their mines were under attack. Now with some of the cons out of the away they were ready.

"Autobots" said Ultra Magnus gaining everyone's attention. "Lock and load." As he himself loaded his weapon and everyone else soon did the same with there weapons. Ratchet then activated the ground bridge which swirled to life behind them.

'Don't worry partner' thought Arcee as Wheeljack and Bulkhead went through first. 'Were coming… just hang in there.'

(with the decepticons)

"There must be some mistake commander Starscream" said a con over the comms. "The mine is not under attack"

"What? How could that's…" said Starscream but was cut off by Megatron.

"Starscream! Explain why my forces are scattering across this globe!" he demanded from where he stood.

"Renegade autobot mischief lord Megatron" responded Starscream as he began to walk towards him before continuing. "I am in the process of deducing how they are infiltrating our communications systems without a base of…" but was once again cut off, this time by Soundwave who began to pull an image.

"The harbinger." Said Starscream.

"You left abandoned Decepticon technology fully operational and unsecure!" yelled Megatron.

Starscream stuttered for a few moments before answering. "Allow me to correct my oversight immediately."

He than turned to a monitor and walked up to it. He than typed into it and began talking into it as comms activated. "Seeker armada to the flight deck. Your target is the Decepticon ship the harbinger. You are to obliterate it… at once." Once he saw the armada in place on the monitor he turned to Soundwave.

"My armada is in position. Open a ground bridge to the harbinger" he ordered but before Soundwave was able to do so the room shock and an explosion was heard in the distance. Right afterwards a monitor brought up a location of Darkmount telling everyone they were under attack.

"It would seem that Darkmount is presently under attack." Said Megatron as he turned around to face the other. He than looked at Starscream "Kindly redirect all efforts towards insuring that our invaders are eradicated." He ordered.

(with bulkhead and Wheeljack)

Wheeljack had just thrown a grenade at Darkmount and was now about to throw another.

"Fire in another hole" he said with joy as he threw the grenade and it land at the side of dark with exploding mere seconds later.

With the last of the grenades throw the two wreckers jumped out of there hiding spot and began running towards the citadel. As they were running they saw the Decepticon had launched an army of seekers and that they were flying towards them. As they closed in they began firing and bulkhead raised the large canon that he was carrying at them and hit a few. While this was going on Wheeljack took the energy whip from his side and sung at a wave of cons. A wave of energy came out at the end of the whip and destroyed a few cons as it crashed into them. He then switched to his blaster and both began running towards the citadel again as the cons continue fire at them. As some of the shots got close they transformed and began driving even closer to the citadel.

(with the decepticons)

The citadel rocked again as another blast hit Darkmount causing everyone to sway.

"I assure you master. I have everything under control." Said Starscream as he tried to reassured Megatron. But all Megatron did was turn around growling at him causing Starscream to back up slightly in fear.

"Lord Megatron." Said Shockwave gaining the mechs attention. "I accept that military considerations are outside of my domain. But perhaps it is time to release the predacons." He stated, which caused Megatron to cool down slight as he thought about it.

"Very well. But only release Predaking for right now. We shall keep Scourge as a last resort for now" he said as he turned back around.

(with Predaking and Scourge)

Both predacons could hear the battle that was raging below them from on top the nemesis, and scourge was eager to get into the action.

" **Aaahhh! Why don't we just go down there already?"** asked Scourge as he heard blasts coming from the battle below.

" **Because our master said we were to wait here tell we were told otherwise."** Stated Predaking as he too listened to the battle that was going on below them.

" **Why not just disobey?"** asked Scourge but was quickly swiped across the face by Predaking which sent him into a wall.

" **Because we are loyal to Lord Megatron's orders, and because I'm the alpha and I order you to fallow those instructions!"** Stated Predaking as he planted his front talon on scourges throat, effectively pinning him. **"Understood?"** he than asked as he began to produce fire in his gullet and bring it into his mouth.

Scourge tried to push up but was forced right back down from force of the talon on his throat. Seeing no other option, he rested his head on the ground and muttered **"Yes."**

With that done Predaking removed his talon from Scourge's throat, and turned to a monitor that was just down the wall that just activated. Both predacons approached the console to see what was on it, and when they got in front of it they saw Shockwave.

"Predaking, you are to engage the autobots that are current attacking outside the citadel." He stated as he then looked over towards Scourge on the monitor. "Scourge you are to wait until further orders." And with that he ended the transmission.

Scourge growled but was immediately silence when Predaking growled at him, but still kept a look of anger o his face.

Predaking turned around and began walking to the edge of the Nemesis. Just as he reached the edge he stopped and looked back at Scourge. **"You WILL wait here until further orders, and if I find out you didn't. I'll put more scars on you than you can count."** He stated, and with that jumped off to attack the autobots.

Scourge growled again and swiped his front left talon across the ground, causing sparks to fly. After a second he laid back down and just listen to the battle below, as he was not willing to test his strength against Predaking's. Predaking was the alpha and after that last display of power. It would most likely stay that way.

(with the Autobots)

Bulkhead and Wheeljack were taking out cons when all of a sudden the flew back up into the sky and began to retreat. Both knew something was up and were proven right when they heard Predaking coming down from the nemesis. Both looked at each other as they knew they were onto phase two. As Predaking began flying down they opened fire on it with their blasters. But just as before they didn't seem to be doing anything. When Predaking was closing in, he was suddenly knocked off course and Ultra Magnus's ship came flying by.

Predaking shrieked in anger and began flying after the ship intending to return a favor. As it got closer to the ship, he began to produce fire in it gullet, ready to take out the ship.

Ultra Magnus was flying in straight line as Predaking got closer. When Predaking was right behind him, he activated his com. "Ratchet… Now!" he shouted. No less than a second afterwards a ground bridge opened up in front of him and rolled the ship out of the way.

Predaking was surprised by the ground bridge and was unable to avoid it as he flew through and ended up in the Artic. He shrieked in anger and his body began to freeze due to the sudden drop in temperature., and just moments afterwards he was frozen solid.

(with the decepticons)

Starscream allowed himself to show a small grin as the portal closed leaving the predacon where ever it was sent. "Oh well" he said as he turned around to look at Shockwave. Shockwave gave no remark and just turned around and began walking away.

"Yes that's right. Go on and sulk why don't you." Gloated Starscream as Shockwave left the bridge.

"So master. Are we going to release the other beast?" asked Starscream gaining Megatron's attention.

"hhhmmm" he said before pausing for a moment. "We shall wait a little while longer before releasing Scourge, and expose any other 'tricks' the autobots might have."

Starscream wasn't to pleased with the answer as he wanted both beasts out of the picture. But kept silent as to ensure Megatron didn't redirect his current anger at him.

(with Scourge)

Scourge continued to wait for further orders while still laying down. He was brought out of any thoughts he might have had when Shockwave came out of the bay doors and onto the flight deck. Getting up Scourge quickly walked over to Shockwave to learn if he was finally going to be facing the enemy.

Shockwave could tell his creation was eager to enter the battle. But shockwave knew the time was not right to reveal him as well.

"Not yet my creation" he stated as he rested his hand on Scourge's gullet for a moment. "You must wait until the time is right." He than said as he walked over to the ledge of the nemesis and jumped off towards the battle below.

Scourge growled in annoyance, at how he was still being kept out of the battle, and looked over the edge and watched Shockwave engage the enemy. As they fought Scourge looked to the white one for a moment and something unexpected happened. He briefly saw him hanging from the ceiling in stasis cuff. Before Scourge could identify anything else the image disappeared and he shook his head.

'What was that?' he thought. He decided to not think about that for right now and went and lied back down to wait for orders. But just as he lied down he got right back up as the monitor near by came on. Walking over to the monitor he saw Megatron on it.

"Scourge. There are intruders inside of Darkmount. I want you to capture them and bring them to Shockwave." He ordered and then just as fast as the monitor came on it turned off.

'Finally!' thought scourge as he than began running over to the entrance to Darkmount.

(with Arcee and Bumblebee)

Arcee and bumblebee were inside Darkmount currently fighting there way through seemingly endless waves of cons.

As they made their way around another corner they were met with more cons. Both Arcee and Bumblebee opened fire on them as they ducked behind the pillars along the edge of the hall. Bumblebee looked down the hall for a second and saw two cons coming out to the middle of the hall and began blasting at them. Taking his own blaster, he pointed it at them and let off a few shots with two hitting their mark with one hitting a con in the chasse and the other in the helm, off lining both.

Arcee saw a con on the same wall as bumblebee and with a single blast she hit it directly in the spark, off lining it instantly.

Just as the con dropped to the floor, three more cons came running around the corner and down the hall towards them. Arcee and bumblebee began firing on them but were not able to hit them as they got closer. As the cons began to get really close both Arcee and Bumblebee prepared for hand combat. Bumblebee engaged the first two while Arcee handled the remaining one.

The con that was now currently fight Arcee swung it servo but due to Arcee's size she was able to dodge it with ease. Trying the same thing again the con swung at her and again missed. But Arcee this time took the opportunity land as few strikes of her own. The first punch she threw was a fist to the cons helm. But the con was able to dodge the punch. However, it was not able to dodge the elbow to the helm that fallowed causing it to stager back. Seeing an opportunity Arcee changed her left fist into a blaster and fired at the cons head. The blast knocked the con off its feet as its head was blown off completely, and causing the body to skid a few feet before stopping.

Arcee turned to umblebee as he landed a fist against one of the cons knocking it out. The last con tried to hit bee in the head but bee blocked it with his arm. Bee then pushed the con back causing it to take a few steps back. Bee then ran up to it and jumped up to land a double kick to the helm, which hit it and sent the con flying towards the wall knocking it out as well.

Arcee looked down the hall and saw a door to a storage room and she looked over to bee. "Hey bee. In here." She said as she points to the storage room, bee nodded and both ran in and the doors closed right after they entered.

Arcee looked over to her right and saw a console on the wall, giving her an idea. She gave a slight small as she then looked over to bee. "Bee can you cover the door?"

Bumblebee looked over at for a moment before answering. _"Uh, sure I guess."_ He beeped a little a confused as he watched the door

Arcee ran over to the console and began typing away at it. While she searched on the console Bumblebee kept looking between her and the door. After about a minute she exhaled out of frustration.

" _What are you looking?"_ asked Bee.

"I'm trying to find where Jack is being held." Answered Arcee as kept trying to find his location. "But I can't find anything. It's like he was never here to begin with." She said as she hit the console out of frustration.

" _Cee we were suppose to disable the canons first then try and find him."_ Stated Bee as he turned to look at her.

"I know that bee! But that doesn't mean we can't find out where they are holding him so when we do destroy the canons we can get to him faster." She stated before giving up on the console. "But he's not in the database. Not even a single line of code. Guess we'll have to do this the old fashion way."

" _We'll find him, Cee. But for now let's focus on bring down this fortress."_ Said Bee as they left the room and began running down the halls once more.

As the two continued to run down the halls of the citadel Bee thought about why Arcee was so desperate to get Jack back. After a few more moments of thinking about it he decided to ask her.

" _Hey Cee. Why are you so desperate to get to Jack? I mean, you were never like this with Cliff, and from what I have heard, even Tailgate. So what's the reason?"_ he asked.

This caused Arcee to slow down for a moment as she herself thought about. After a few seconds she looked over at Bee.

"I guess I've become closer to Jack then both Cliff and Tailgate. I've told him things I didn't even tell them. I trust him more then anyone, and have come to care for him more then anyone." She answered.

They continued to run down the hall and around another corner before the silence was broken by Bee.

" _You love him, don't you?"_ he said, which Caused Arcee to skid to a stop before turning around to face him.

"What! N-no… I do not love him." She replied quickly as Bumblebee gave her a smug look.

" _sure, you don't."_ he said as he crossed his arms.

"LOOK Bee. I DON'T love him. He's a friend, nothing more." She said as she began glowing in the checks as she blushed.

" _Say what you like Arcee, but the look all over your face tells a completely differently story."_ Stated Bee as he began running again leaving Arcee behind slightly as she watched him continue to run down the hall.

"I do not love him. Do I?" she asked herself before putting that thought in the back of her processor as she began running after Bee.

A few minutes later both Arcee and Bee found the entrance to control room for the canons, but it was surrounded by cons. They began firing at the cons but couldn't seem to make any progress. After a few moments they heard Ultra Magnus over the comms.

"Ultra Magnus to stealth team. Statas report." Came his voice from the comms.

Arcee ducked back behind the pillar that she was behind and activated her com.

"Having a little trouble reaching the objective." She said as she pointed her blaster at the cons down the hall and fired a few more round, before talking again. "Security is tighter then anticipated sir." She finished as a few shots struck close to her causing her to cringe slightly.

"Keep them occupied." Ordered Ultra Magnus before cutting the comms.

Arcee looked over to Bee and nodded and both prepared to fire at the enemy. But before they were able to do so the cons in the hallway backed up and went around the corners surprising them.

'What are they planning' thought Arcee, as she charged her blaster.

Just as the two were about to charge down the hall they both felt the ground shack slightly. Both Arcee and Bumblebee looked at each other before they felt the ground shack slightly again and again. Soon they heard a large roar come from down the hall. They both froze as they saw another predacon come around the corner and look at them for a moment before roaring at them.

" _They have a second one!?"_ asked Bee in shock. _"What do we do?"_ he then asked as he looked over to Arcee.

"Drive!" she answered as she transformed into her alt mode as well as Bumblebee before trying to drive away.

As they tried to drive back down the hall they saw from their rear view mirrors the predacon breathing firing from it's mouth as it came at incredible speed towards them.

"Right!" shouted Arcee as both turned right down another hall as the fire barely missed them.

Scourge Roared and began chasing them down the halls. Bee saw this and decided to see if they could get some back up.

" _R_ _atchet we may have a slight problem!"_ He beeped over the comms.

"What kind of problem?" asked Ratchet in response.

" _Well the cons may of had a second predacon, and its now trying to take a chunk out of our tailpipes."_ Stated Bee as Scourge got right behind him and snapped his Jaws at him.

"Are you saying that there is a second predacon and its currently chasing you?" demanded Ratchet in worry.

"whoa. You mean there's a second one! What does it look like?" came Miko's voice over the comms before she was shushed.

" _Ya. We are going to need you to bridge it to the artic like you did the first one."_ Responded Bee as he and Arcee turned another corner with the predacon slamming into the wall before chasing after them again.

"I can't bridge it while its inside the citadel. You need to get it outside for that to happen." Said Ratchet

" _Try and get outside while this thing is trying to eat us. Sure! We can do that."_ Said bee sarcastically.

"Just try and get it outside." Responded Ratchet annoyed before cutting the comms.

" _Well what the plan cee?"_ asked Bee.

"We get to the place we entered from and get it outside so we can have ratchet bridge it to the artic like we did the first." She stated as she swerved to avoid the predacon's fire as it breathed another stream of fire at them.

'Assuming that we can make it to the exit' she thought. Because if there was one thing that was certain now, it was that this battle was far from over.

(author's notes)

And done. I'm sorry it took a little longer to get this one up, but it's done. So Scourge is now fighting the Autobots. What will come next, you will have to wait and see.

As always, I will try and have the next chapter up in a few days, but no promises.

This is the forgotten soldier, signing off.


	6. Chapter 6

Hi everyone, sorry for the long wait. College has been killing me this last week and has not left me with any time. Literally… I had to one day stay up all night to complete an assignment for one of my courses and had to go 38 hours without sleep. I had to stay up all night just to get the work done. So I had no time to work on this. But the next few days seem a lot lighter so I plan getting as much writing done as possible.

Thankyou to those who reviewed and for the ideas, and to those who have waited patiently for this chapter. Now with out further a dew on with the story.

(Darkmount)

Bumblebee and Arcee swerved around another corner as scourge tried to take another bite at them, but only winding up on biting down on air.

"Ultra Magnus sir!" said Arcee over the she increased her speed to try and get some distance between her and the predacon. "We need your assistance!"

However, the only thing she got from the other end of the com line was static.

"Scarp!" she cursed as she veered right suddenly to avoid the fire ball aimed right at her by Scourge.

" _Why do you think he didn't respond?"_ beeped bumblebee as he himself avoided a fire ball.

"Don't know… but what ever the cause is it can't be good." Responded Arcee as she adjusted her left side mirror to better see scourge as he chased them down the corridor.

"But first let's get back outside so we can deal with this thing." She said as she and bumblebee finally spotted the hole from where they entered. "Put it in overdrive Bee!" she ordered as they both began to put the pedal to medal as they approached the opening.

Unfortunately, Scourge saw this and aimed a fire ball right at the entrance. As Arcee and Bumblebee reached the entrance they were knocked off their tires as the fireball hit just behind them, sending them flying out of the hole and across the sandy ground outside. As they hit the ground they transformed back in to their robot modes.

Arcee shook her head as she tried to regain her bearing after the blasts. But when she did she saw blasters pointed at her, and she realised that she was surrounding by cons as was bumblebee, Bulkhead and Wheeljack.

"Scrap!" she hissed as she realised that she was now captured.

"On your pedes femme!" ordered a con as he pushed his blaster closer for emphasis.

Arcee signed as she got back on her feet.

"Raise your servos in the air where we can see them." Another con ordered, and again she signed as she complied.

'Now how am I going to get Jack?' She wondered as she looked back at the citadel. But she was quickly brought back to her current problem.

"Now move." The con that spoke first ordered again. As he hit her slight to get her going.

Arcee growled as she was taken over to the wreckers as another group brought over Bumblebee. As she looked around she noticed shockwave walking towards them.

"So he is alive!" she muttered under her breath. 'To bad cliff can't get that rematch. He always would have wanted it' She thought sadly.

Shockwave walked up to them and looked at them for a moment before he looked at Scourge who had finally managed to get through the small hole in the wall and began walking towards them.

"Well done Scourge." Said shockwave as he walked up to him and placed his hand on scourge's gullet.

Scourge made a noise and began to walk circles around the autobots, as he examines them. As he continued to circle around them Shockwave walked away slightly and activated his com.

"Lord Megatron, the autobots have been captured. What are your orders?"

"Keep them where they are for now." Ordered Megatron.

"Yes master." Answered shockwave as he turned around and began walking towards the autobots.

Arcee looked to the predacon as it made another circle around them. The one that Shockwave called Scourge. She looked at it in order to find any weaknesses it might have. But the more she looked at it the more she couldn't find any. She sighed seeing that its was going to be a struggle to take it down. She then saw that it was looking at her, and she looked back. She saw that it's eyes were like fire, a combination of red, yellow and orange. But behind the eyes she thought she saw something familiar.

As she was looking at Scourge, he was looking at her. He was walking around them to make sure they didn't try anything. But as he was making one circle he looked at the blue femme. As he looked at her he thought he heard her voice. It was faint, almost to faint to hear, but he still heard it. "…I am afraid, of losing you". 'Why would the femme say that?' he wondered. Scourge realised that he was becoming distracted and decided focus on the task. So he began making circles around the capture enemy once more.

Minutes went by and nothing seemed to change, but then Bumblebee saw something in the distance flying.

" _W_ _hat's that?"_ He asked as he pointed to it causing everyone else to do the same.

The object got larger as it got closer and soon flew high above them and towards the top of Darkmount. After a few short seconds everyone then could hear blaster fire coming from the top of Darkmount.

'What's going on?' wondered scourge. He than heard a voice coming from the autobots.

"... Optimus Prime has returned."

Scourge looked back at the autobots just in time to see them hit the guards that were closest to them. Bulkhead and Wheeljack then made a run for Shockwave, as he began firing at them. Both wreckers began dodging the blaster fire and were getting closer. However, when they were just about to reach Shockwave they were knocked back by Scourge as he swiped them away with his talon and stepped in between them and shockwave. Both wreckers landed and got ready to take on this predacon.

Wheeljack charged first bringing his swords up and making an 'x' with them as he got ready to strike. Scourge saw this and stepped back to avoid the blows. Next Bulkhead charged at scourge with his mace and began swinging at Scourge. The first couple of swings went just like Wheeljack's attempt, but unlike Wheeljack he managed to hit scourge in the front leg. Sadly, it did little as he saw Scourge do little more than look at him angrily before swiping at him and sending him flying across the ground.

Wheeljack then came in with a war cry and began running around scourge as he fired at him with his blaster. The shots hit scourge who flinched at the pain, but was other wise unharmed from the shots. Scourge then roared at him and made for a swipe at him with his tail, but Wheeljack jumped away just as Scourge was about to hit him.

While bulkhead and Wheeljack dealt with Scourge, Arcee and Bumblebee dealt with the cons. Slowly one by one they took them out until there were none left. Both of them sighed as they then turned to look at Scourge as he grabbed Wheeljack with his jaws who was currently on his back and throw him across the ground. Bulkhead then fired at him and Scourge responded by firing a ball of fire at him, causing Bulkhead to transform and drive away slightly to avoid the attack.

"So… any idea on how to take this thing down?" asked Arcee as got ready to take on Scourge.

Bumblebee looked down for a moment as he thought of something. He the looked up as an idea formed in his head and he turned to look at Arcee.

" _I think I might have one."_ He stated as he looked over to her.

"What's the idea?" she asked.

" _I might have a way of getting it to the Arctic like we did the other one"_ stated Bumblebee as he Wheeljack jump on top of Scourge and fire away on his Back.

"Well do what you need to do Bee." Stated Arcee as she her self began running towards Scourge and began firing away at him.

" _Ratchet are you there?"_ asked Bumblebee over the coms.

"We hear you Bumblebee, what do you need?" responded Ratchet.

" _I need you to create a bridge right beneath my current location and set it for the arctic."_ said Bumblebee as he watched Arcee get knocked away by Scourge's tail.

"Why?" questioned Ratchet.

" _I have an idea to get rid of the predicon. Just have the bridge ready for my signal."_ Stated Bumblebee as he then got ready to deal with Scourge.

Scourge was getting Angry. The energon blasts stung and every time he got rid of one of the Autobots another was on him and firing away at him. He saw Arcee running in front of him and tried melt her with his fire. But Arcee transformed and drove out of the fires path. He than saw Arcee, Bulkhead and Wheeljack regroup. He was about to charge at them when felt something hit the side of his head. He turned to his right and saw Bumblebee standing a little bit away from him.

" _Hey you… why don't you pick on someone your own size?"_ taunted Bumblebee, learning that line from a movie he watched with Raf.

Scourge roared and began Charging at him with the full intent on taking his head off. Bumblebee just stood there as he got closer. Just as Scourge was about to reach him Bumblebee activated his com.

" _Now Ratchet."_ he ordered and jumped to the side as a Ground bridge opened up right where he was standing.

Scourge saw the ground bridge and began digging his talons in the ground to try and stop him self. Unfortunately, it didn't work and he went through the ground bridge and went into the arctic. Just as he exited the bridge it closed leaving him in the arctic, just a bit away from Predaking.

He roared as he him self felt the cold take hold of him and began to freeze, and with seconds he froze solid.

Back at Darkmount everyone saw Scourge go through the ground Bridge and then close slightly afterwards.

Shockwave who had stood off slightly to watch the fight unfold, was slightly frustrated that both of his creations were now lost somewhere at random.

Arcee, Bulkhead and Wheeljack looked at Bumblebee and gave him a thumbs up, as he returned it. They then heard their coms activate and Ultra Magnus's voice came through saying. "Autobots clear the Area."

All of them transformed and began driving towards shockwave as he was in their path. Shockwave then began opening fire on them as they drove around him, except Wheeljack who drove right into him causing him to stagger slightly. He then turned around and began firing at them as they drove off into the distance. Shockwave then looked at Darkmount as the top of it exploded and began crumbling down.

"Soundwave… I require a space bridge." Said shockwave as he turned around and began walking towards a spacebridge that opened up behind him. He then stepped through and it closed just after him as debris came crashing down right where he had been standing.

(with the Autobots, some hours later)

After the autobots had destroyed Darkmount they all regrouped and agent Fowler had them transported to a hanger at the military base he was currently posted at. After everyone settled down fowler got everyone's attention and began to give a speech to the autobots on the governments behalf.

"On half of the president and the joint chiefs. I thank you all for your selfless heroism in defence of this planet. I am only sorry that the world can't yet not know of your dying dedication. Because I for one owe you my life, my liberty and my future." He stated as he then took a step back and saluted the autobots.

Optimus nodded to agent fowler, pleased to know that the human government was thankful for their help.

"Sir" said Ultra Magnus gaining Optimus attention. "I am honoured to relinquish command of the autobots to you." He finished.

"Welcome to earth Ultra Magnus" said Optimus "and to team prime" he the added as he and Ultra Magnus turned to face the others.

Just then Miko came running up "Ok, someone's gotta say it. Optimus 2.0 is rad. Imagine what the forge could do for bod." She said as she turned to look at the other. Ratchet just made a noise at the statement before turning to look at the forge.

"Is it true that the forge has been drained of it's power?" he asked Smokescreen who just nodded before looking at the floor. "then any hope of rebuilding the omega lock has truly been lost." He then added.

"I… did what I felt was right." Said Smokescreen.

"Then your instincts have again proven to be quite sound." Stated Ratchet as Smokescreen turned to look at him with a slight smile, which Ratchet returned.

Everyone then turn to look at Optimus in his new form, and everyone knew that they still had a chance in winning this war.

Optimus looked at his team, and could see the hope in their faces, which brought a smile to his face. But just a quickly as the smile appeared it disappeared when he noticed that the team was not complete.

"Where is Jackson?" asked Optimus as could not recall seeing the boy once since everyone reunited.

"He was captured by the cons" said Arcee as she walked up to him. "And we were unable to get him when we were at Darkmount. He may of…" she paused for a moment before continuing. "He may have been killed when we took down Darkmount." She finished as her optics became full of sadness at the thought of her partner being killed.

Optimus's face turned to one of sadness as well at the fact that they may have suffered a loss.

"That may not be true." Said smokescreen as everyone turned to look at him.

"What do you mean?" questioned Bulkhead.

"Megatron kept the Forge and other relics on the Nemesis. All of his 'valuables', so maybe he thought of Jack as a valuable as well and kept him on the ship. Instead of the citadel, so he may still be alive" Stated Smokescreen.

"You didn't by chance see him while you were aboard the warship?" asked Ratchet.

"No sadly." Said smokescreen as he looked at the ground for a moment before looking at him. "But I didn't have time to see the whole ship. So there is still a chance that he was on it." He added trying to give everyone hope.

"Then our next course of action is to locate the Decepticon warship, and retrieve him." Said Optimus bringing everyone's attention to him. "Ratchet I need you to begin scanning for the warship as soon as possible." He stated as he turned to look at him.

"That will take time Optimus. With no proper way to scan for the warship, and the fact I will have to rebuild a scanner from scratch. It will take some time." Said Ratchet.

"Do all that you can old friend." Responded Optimus reassuringly before looking to the other.

"As for the rest of you. We will require you to locate new sources of energon, as we are now in desperate need of locating more."

"It will be done sir" said Ultra Magnus as everyone nodded to Optimus.

'Don't worry partner' thought Arcee. 'We will find you and bring you home'

(authors notes)

I know that this chapter was not very long and I'm sorry for that. But I wanted to get something out for you guys. As I said at the beginning of this chapter life has gotten the way, and very well in the future do so again. So I can't promise on getting them out very quickly or at a constant rate. I know some of you were worried that I gave up on the story and I want to assure you I am going to be completing this story. I'm not someone to quit part way through because thing get tough. All I can say is I may take a while from time to time to get chapters up.

Thankyou all for taking the time to read this and I look forward to seeing you in the next chapter. This is the forgotten soldier signing off.


	7. Chapter 7

Hello guys I know its been a while. College has been getting in the way. But like I promised I did get this chapter done and I will be continuing this story.

I also want to thank those how are joining in and following this story, and to those who are reviewing and for their ideas.

Now with out further a due, let's begin.

(autobots temporary base)

Inside of the hanger that now currently housed the autobots all seemed normal. Bulkhead and bumblebee were currently out scouting for energon, while Optimus had gone out on his own to do the same, after getting his new alt mode from agent Fowler. Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack were at the remain of the old outpost to see if they could find anything of use, and Smokescreen was who knows where. Ratchet had taken a break from searching for the nemesis and was currently working on a new synthetic energon formula. The progress was slow since he was starting from scratch, and with less then ideal tools.

The only other person in the base currently was Arcee who was currently pacing from one side of the room to the other. As she paced her thoughts were on none other then Jack as they still had yet to locate the nemesis and retrieve him.

'He's got to be okay. He's got to be okay.' She constantly kept repeating to herself in her head.

Ratchet was starting to get annoyed by the constant noise of her walking back and forth, so he turned to her and asked. "Do you mind?" Arcee turned to look at him as he continued. "I am trying to isolate a specific molecular strand of energon and I require quite to do so."

"I can't help it Ratchet. My partner is a prisoner to the cons, and we have no idea what they are doing to him." Said Arcee as she threw her arms up in the air for emphases.

"You must remain calm Arcee. If you truly want to help Jack you have to remain calm so when the time comes, you can help in recovering him." Said Ratchet.

"And how am I Suppose to do that. When he could be…" she did not finish the sentence as the thought of what she was going to say frightened her, but Ratchet understood what she was going to say.

"Jack is not dead Arcee. So, don't let yourself think that." Reassured Ratchet.

"But how can you be sure?" Questioned Arcee.

"Because if Jack were dead Megatron wouldn't pass up the opportunity to gloat over it to us." Said Ratchet in an obvious tone.

Arcee thought about it for a moment and then seemed to calm down, as she knew he was right. If Jack truly were dead Megatron would have told them by now to gloat over it, and the fact that he hasn't. Means that Jack was still alive.

As Arcee seemed to calm down Ratchet turned around to continue his work. Another couple of hours went by like this before Bulkhead and Bumblebee called for a ground bridge. Arcee walked to the control to do so, so Ratchet didn't have to stop in his work. After a few seconds, she activated it and the two came driving through. Both came to a halt and transformed into the robot modes, with bulkhead carrying 2 cubes of energon.

"Look what we found." Said Bulkhead all dramatic.

"Yes, yes. Very good Bulkhead, put it with the hand full of other cubes we currently have." Said Ratchet not even looking up from his work.

Bulkhead just shrugged and walked over to 4 other cubes of energon and set it down beside them. He looked over to his right and saw about forty empty cube that they still had to fill. He sighed knowing that they still had a long way to go before their stock pile was even near acceptable levels, and that meant he would likely have to go scouting again shortly.

Bumblebee walked over to Ratchet and looked at what he was doing. But before he could even ask the question ratchet raised his hand silencing him as he looked into his microscope and said "Complicated Molecular infusement."

Bumblebee was about to ask a different question when he saw the time on the back wall and realised it was almost time to pick up the kids.

" _Hey Bulk, we gotta get going."_ He said as he pointed to the clock.

Bulkhead looked at the time and realised he was right. "Scrap right. I promised Miko we would go dune bashing before we came back." He said as got up and walked over the ground bridge as bumblebee did the same.

Arcee just rolled her optics at bulkheads silly activity he did with Miko, as she walked over to the controls and set in the coordinates before activating it. Bulkhead and Bumblebee transformed into their alt modes and drove off to pick up the kids from there temporary school. As Arcee closed the Ground bridge she looked down in sadness again as her thoughts on Jack returned. Signing she walked back over to a wall near where she was standing before and leaned against it.

'Its going to be a long day' she thought sadly.

(hours later)

A few hours later the hanger was busy. Bulkhead and Bumblebee had returned with Raf and Miko. As well as agent Fowler and June had come to the base. Fowler walked back up to his office to file some reports, while June walked up to Arcee.

"Anything?" she asked as she desperately hoped they may have found her son.

"I'm sorry June, we still can't find him." Replied Arcee as she looked at the ground again.

June sighed as she walked up to Arcee and placed a hand on her knee.

"It's okay Arcee. We will find him." She said to reassure her.

"I hope your right." Replied Arcee as she looked back up at June and gave a slight smile, which June return.

After that June walked over to the platform that Miko was currently on and climbed up to stand next to her.

After about fifteen minutes went by, Buckhead and Bumblebee realised something.

" _Scrap Bulk! We didn't file that report yet."_ Said Bumblebee with wide optics.

"Scarp! Ultra Magnus will have us doing drills for a megacycle if we don't file that report." Said Bulkhead as he and Bumblebee ran over to the console to file the report.

Arcee smiled smugly as she watched Bulkhead and Bumblebee hurry over to the console and began filing a report for the area they had just scouted.

While Bulkhead and Bumblebee struggled to file that report for Ultra Magnus before he returned, June and Miko had a little conversation of their own.

"So how's it going helicopter mom" said Miko as they looked over the railing.

June just rolled her eyes at Miko's nickname. Miko had now used that name often and June had grown to tolerate it seeing it as it was Miko.

"I'm fine Miko" she said, but it was clear that Miko wasn't buying it.

"Really? Then why does your face say something differently?" said Miko as she looked over to June.

June sighed as she looked down over the railing and down to the ground below.

"I just want him back" she finally said softly as she closed her eyes.

Miko immediately knew who she was talking about, and tried to cheer her up.

"Hey don't worry about Jack, I'm sure he's fine. It's the cons I worry about. They must be losing their minds with his reasonability talk." She said with a snicker at the end.

June didn't find the joke funny but appreciated Miko's attempt to cheer her up. After that there was a few short moments of silence between them before it was broken by June.

"So how are you and Raf doing?" she asked

"Alight I guess. Raf has been busy with Ratchet trying to get some of his doohickeys to work." She answered as she looked over to where Raf was sitting and saw that he was currently typing away on his computer. "As for me. It been as boring as ever." She sighed as looked back over to June. "Bulk and I can't go do the same stuff we use too due to Ratchet saying it could lead to an 'unnecessary' fight."

"Ratchets just making sure that you and Bulkhead are safe." Replied June.

"hmm. Ya right." Snorted Miko.

All of a sudden the ground bridge activated and everyone turned to look at it.

"Return trajectories fluctuations have been stabilized." Said Raf as he looked over to Ratchet.

"Ultra Magnus we are ready to receive you." Said Ratchet over the comms to Ultra Magnus.

Moments later Ultra Magnus came through in his newly acquired vehicle mode, which was a semi similar to the one Optimus used to use. As he rolled to a stop Bumblebee picked the energon cube that he was carrying off so that he could transform. Once Ultra Magnus transformed he walked over to the others as they gave him their attention.

"We didn't find much else in the rubble of the former base." Ultra Magnus said.

Just then Wheeljack walked through and said as he held up a lobber. "You call this not much else?"

He then procced to throw it directly at Bulkhead who was shocked by the sudden movement and was unable to catch the incoming heap of metal. Unfortunately, it did not end there as the ball then bounced off of Bulkhead and went straight into Miko's direction. Paralyzed with shock, Miko was unable to move, but was saved as June Pulled her to the side. Saving her from the incoming projectile, which slammed into the wall where she had just been standing.

"Wheeljack! You could have caused serious damage!" scolded Ratchet.

"To Me!" stated Miko as she got up and placed her hand on her hips.

After a few seconds June and Miko heard another voice which came from the other side of the door which the ball of metal was now wedged in. "uuuhhh. A little help here?" Came Fowlers voice as both Miko and June realised he was stuck in his office.

June called Arcee over to help get the ball of metal unstuck and free agent Fowler while the others talked.

"What were you thinking Soldier?" questioned Ultra Magnus angrily.

"I was thinking Bulk could have caught that lob." Said Wheeljack causally as if nothing wrong had happened, which angered Ultra Magnus even further. Even though he didn't show it.

"Allow me to make myself clear." He said as he then proceeded to stand over Wheeljack slightly. "As Optimus Primes second in command. I have no intention of tolerating 'wrecker' behavior." He than stated afterwards as he glared slightly at Wheeljack.

"Somethings never change." Replied Wheeljack who found it amusing to see Ultra Magnus get angry.

The others watched on and didn't like where things were going.

"Jackie." Said Bulkhead in a worried tone. Worried that Wheeljack may cross the line.

"Need I remind you, it was 'Optimus Prime Himself' who assigned me to command you wreckers back on Cybertron. And get you 'loose canons' under control." Stated Ultra Magnus. "An effective combat unit begins with discipline. If you won't accept that then feel free to choose the path of least resistance. As you did before." Finished Ultra Magnus.

"If my ship weren't a twisted wreck right now. I'd do that 'sir'" he spat as he then turned around and then walked away to another part of the hanger.

Ultra Magnus just watched as Wheeljack walked away and sighed angrily before turning to the others.

"So any word from Optimus?" he asked, wanting to focus on something different.

"He's investigating recent Decepticon activity. Hopefully an energon mine." Said Ratchet as looked at Ultra Magnus.

"Good. With any hope our leader will return more energon to add to our stock pile." Replied Ultra Magnus.

As he was about to walk away he saw Arcee standing against the wall once again, and knew what was troubling her. So he turned to Ratchet and asked. "And any luck with location the Decepticon warship so that we may rescue our comrade?"

Ratchet sighed before answering. "No. there is no sign of it yet, and Arcee is taking hard." He answered as he to looked over to her.

Ultra Magnus sighed as he knew there was not much they could do to change Arcee's mood. He had seen many soldiers act the same way when a comrade was captured, and knew that there was very little that could be done to change their behaviour. So rather then tell Arcee that she needed to remain focus, he decided to let her be.

(with Optimus)

Optimus was currently flying through the air. As he flew around he gazed at the ground below, hoping to see anything that might signal that the cons were around. As he flew around his thought came onto resent event. More specifically, Jacks capture. Even though he had come to care for all their human allies, he had come to care for Jack most of all. Jack in many ways he was like his former self when he was Orion Pax, and to now know that he is a prison to the Decepticon bothered him greatly.

'Jackson, please know we will find you' he thought.

That was one of the reasons why he was out here. It was to see if he could find any clues that might lead to the Decepticon warship and hopefully Jack, as well as see if he could locate any energon.

After about an hour of flying around he finally saw something. Down below him he saw a cave that did not look natural to the surrounding area. thinking he might of finally found something he began to descend down to the ground below.

(autobot temporary base)

"How rad would it be if you all had jetpacks like Optimus?" said Miko excitedly.

"Quite 'rad' Miko." Responded Ratchet as he attempted to create a new device out of the technology that the government gave them.

"But the Forge has been depleted of its power to do that." He continued as he turned to look at it, which was resting against the human platform a short distance away.

"Now its only good for pounding out dings." Added Bulkhead.

Just after he said that they all heard a car engine and looked to the entrance to the hanger and saw a car that was blue with yellow highlights, and the number 7 on the side doors come in. just as it got close it skidded to a halt.

"Smokescreen?" asked Arcee as she could easily tell who it was. After she said that the sports car began to transform and indeed it was smokescreen.

"Aaahhh! What gave me away?" he asked as he was disappointed that his new look didn't fool them. But Arcee just gave him a look that said 'really'.

"Come on. Robots in disguise, right?" said smokescreen as he gestured to his new look. Ultra Magnus walked forwards as he intended to find out where he had bee.

"Where have you been soldier?" asked Ultra Magnus as he stood in front of smokescreen.

"Scanning new war paint. Thought it would be proactive to fallow Optimus's lead, and Bumblebee's." he answered as he gestured to how Bumblebee looked too.

Bumblebee turned around after setting a energon cube down, and beep "Really?" in response.

"Now you can look your best while stacking those empty cubes" stated Ultra Magnus as looked over to pile of empty energon cubes that needed to be stacked.

"Yes sir" replied Smokescreen as he then turned around and began to walk towards the pile, while still being disappointed in how he was being treated.

"I was nearly a prime but somehow I'm still a rookie." Muttered Smokescreen under his breath, but Ratchet still heard him a something.

"What was that about a prime?" asked Ratchet.

Smokescreen stopped and turned around to face him. "Uuhh… time. Time to stop acting like a rookie." Stuttered Smokescreen as he then turned around and began again to walk towards the pile of cubes.

Arcee had listened in and began walking up to Ratchet.

"Smokescreen was the only one who went back. If it weren't for him Optimus might not be with us today." Said Arcee as the dark thought hit her of how they could have lost their leader.

"Arcee we were under the strictest of orders. The three of you had your human partners to protect." Responded Ratchet as he put down the device he was working on to look at her.

"Which I failed." Replied Arcee as she looked down at the floor even more.

"Arcee we have been over this. Jack's capture was not your fault." Stated Ratchet as he tried to reason with Arcee.

"You still don't get it Ratchet." Said Arcee as she turned to look at him. "My partner could be dead… all because I wasn't there." She then added.

"And as I have said to you now several times, there was nothing in that moment in time that you could have done. But if you want to save him you are going to have to keep yourself together. If not for your self, then try and do so for him." Ratchet said in an unusual soft and comforting voice.

Arcee sighed as she then began to look at the ground once more.

"Arcee what is it that is truly bothering you? You weren't this worried when ever Cliffjumper was captured. Which I would like to add was nearly a dozen times since being on earth." Said Ratchet as he could see that there was something different going on with Arcee.

"That's because Cliff could take care of himself. Jacks human, he can't take really the same amount of punishment as we can." Responded Arcee.

"Jack may not be able to match us in physical strength, Arcee. But he is more than capable of taking care of himself until we can rescue him." Responded Ratchet as he picked up his device and began working on it again. "He is also very mature for his age. Even more so then Cliffjumper I would dare say, respectfully." He added.

Arcee just sighed again looked at the ground, as she knew he was right. But that still didn't change how she felt.

"Arcee. Why are you really acting like this?" asked Ratchet again.

Arcee paused for a moment as she thought about it herself. But as she thought about it she couldn't find the answer herself.

"I… don't know Ratchet." She said as she then turned towards the hanger door.

"I'm going outside and getting some 'fresh air' as Miko calls it. I need to clear my processor." She said as she walked towards the entrance.

She stepped outside and watched as the soldier did their daily drills. As she continued to watch the soldier she thought about what Ratchet. Why was she acting like this? Ratchet was right when he said that she didn't act nearly this emotional when Cliffjumper or even Tailgate got captured. So why was she like this with Jack?

Her thoughts turned to what happened at Darkmount, specifically the conversation she had with Bumblebee. He had asked if she loved him, and she now was wondering that herself. While it was true that she had now gotten closer to Jack than any of her previous partners, she didn't know how far it had gone. When ever she was around him she felt like there was something in the war still worth fighting for. She had become much happier after Jack had entered her life. So, did that mean that she loved him?

Still being confused about the topic herself she decided to talk to Optimus in private about this, and ask for her leader's wisdom about the matter.

Having been outside for long enough she decided to return to the hanger. Just as she entered the hanger the ground bridge opened up and Optimus came through while holding something in his hands.

"Optimus, did you find energon?" asked Ratchet as he deactivated the ground bridge.

"No. but I did uncover this." Stated Optimus as he set down something on a platform and everyone gathered around it.

"It can not be." said Ratchet in disbelief.

"Be what?" asked Raf in curiosity.

"The antient remains… of a predacon." Answered Optimus.

"Though it remains unclear on why such a skull would be found on your planet. Its presences reveals all too much about the predacons, which Megatron recently sent in pursuit of us." Said ratchet.

"You mean those Dragon bots we put on ice?" Asked Miko.

"Except that predacons have been extinct since… well" Continued Ratchet.

"Since before most life began on Cybertron." Finished Smokescreen.

"There like earths dinosaur." Said Raf in awe.

"So then what were dinobots?" asked Miko.

"Totally different." Answered Bulkhead.

"With Megatron seeing new interest in the excavation of prehistoric skeletons, and a certain scientist back among the Decepticon ranks." Said ratchet.

"it would stand to reason, that Shockwave cloned the beast from one such find." Finished Optimus.

"And now Megatron's looking to clone another." Added Ultra Magnus.

"What Makes you think Bucket head would stop with just one?" asked Wheeljack as he knew this was much bigger of a problem then just one.

"We could have beast wars on our hands." Stated Bulkhead worryingly."

"And if Shockwave only requires a single strained of CNA from which to clone a beast." Added Ratchet.

"He already possesses what he needs to engender this one." Finished Optimus. "Autobots we must become beast hunters." He stated to the others.

"One thing still doesn't fallow. Predacons went extinct on Cybertron. So what would there ones be doing here?" Asked Smokescreen as the thought troubled everyone.

"For now we must focus on how to stop Megatron from gaining anymore predacon remains. Rather then focus on how they came to be on this planet." Said Optimus. "Autobots, we must now begin scanning for Decepticon activity, to ensure that Shockwave does not gain anymore predacon remains to engender more predacons." He then added, with everyone nodding in agreement.

Everyone than began to go about their duties except for Arcee who approached Optimus.

"Optimus. Can I speak to you about something… Private?" she asked.

Optimus looked at her for a moment before nodding.

"Of course Arcee" he said and then gestured to fallow him to the back of the hanger so no one could listen in.

Once they were sure that no one would here them Optimus began the conversation.

"Arcee. What is it that is troubling you?" he asked.

"Well… its about… its about Jack." Answered Arcee with a bit of hesitation.

"I see, and what about Jackson is it that concerns you?" continued to questioned Optimus.

"Well… I…" she paused for a moment and took a deep breath before trying once more. "I think I may… have feeling for him… and not just… regular feeling."

Optimus let out a rare smile as he knelt down to be at face level with her.

"I mean… I care for him… deeply care for him. But I… I don't know." Finished Arcee as she looked at the ground, not sure how to proceed.

"Arcee." Optimus said gaining her attention and making her look at him. "Are you trying to say that you are in love with Jackson?" he finished as his smile only seemed to grow.

"I… don't know." Answered Arcee as she looked down at the floor.

"Arcee tell me, what is it you feel when you are near him? How does he make you feel?" asked Optimus.

"Well… he makes me happy. I always feel better whenever he's around. I… feel as if there is something for me worth fighting for again in this war." Answered Arcee. "Do... do you think I love him?" she then asked.

"That is not something I can answer for you Arcee. Only your spark can tell you that, and from what you just told me. I believe you have all the information you require." Answered Optimus as he continued to smile.

Arcee looked back at the ground as she thought about what Optimus said. After about a minute a small smile began to form on her face and she looked back up at Optimus. "I do love him, don't I?" asked Arcee.

Optimus still continued to smile and just nodded in response.

"And your… Okay with this?" she then asked slightly worried.

"Arcee. Finding love is something we all seek in life, and sometimes we find it the strangest of ways. The fact that you have found it despite all that has happened to you warms my spark." Answered Optimus.

"But we're not even the same species. Doesn't that bother you?" she then asked in disbelief.

"Arcee. Finding love is not about finding those we can physical bond with. But with those how we share an emotional bond with. The fact that you have found love in someone, despite your differences pleases me greatly. But to answer your question, yes I approve of your relationship." Answered Optimus.

"But… what am I suppose to tell him? What if he doesn't feel the same way?" asked Arcee worryingly as the thought of Jack not loving her scared her.

Optimus rested his hand on Arcee's shoulder to comfort her before speaking.

"Arcee. You will know in time what to tell him, and you can do so once we rescue him. As for him not feeling the same way. I can say with up most certainty that he will return your feeling and explain how much he care for you." He stated as he then stood back up.

He looked back over to the front of the hanger and saw that everyone was gathering up again and was talking about resent events. He turned to look back at Arcee and said "I believe that this conversation is something that we will want to become apart of. Is there anything else you wish to disuse?"

Arcee just shook her head no, and Optimus nodded as both then turned and began walking back towards the others.

"Thank you Optimus." Said Arcee as they walked with a smile.

"Your most welcomed Arcee." Replied Optimus as they then reached the other.

(Authors notes)

And that's all for this chapter. I know its not the longest and for that I apologies, but I got this chapter done. Now some of you asked am I going to be following the entire third season and to answer your question, no I will not. Very shortly things are going to be changing and story will be going down a different path.

As always I will continue to try and get chapters out as fast as possible but I can't guaranty when they will come out. But I will get them out.

Until next time, this is the forgotten soldier, signing off.


	8. Chapter 8

(Artic, days later)

In the artic, all seemed pretty normal. A storm had been raging for a couple of weeks now, and had finally come to an end. The wind blew across icy ground as the last of the clouds moved aside to let the sun through, and give the land much needed warmth.

But there were somethings that were not suppose to be there. Two objects covered in ice that were about a hundred meters apart stood tall in the frozen waste land. These two objects were the current frozen Predaking, and Scourge. Both were currently in stasis as the cold had forced both into stasis, but that was beginning to change. With the sun's warmth now beaming upon them the cold that had imprisoned them had begun to lose it hold.

Slowly their core temperatures began to rise, and they both began to come out of stasis. Predaking was the first to come out of stasis as his gullet began to heat up, and his eyes lighting up. Slowly the ice encasing him began to crack and fall off. Finally, the ice could not hold the beast any longer and the ice encasing Predaking Shattered, realising him. Just seconds later Scourge also came out of stasis and broke free from his imprisonment as well.

Both predicons let out a roar of victory as they were now free, and turned to face and approach one another.

" **I thought I instructed you to wait for further orders!?"** questioned Predaking furiously, as he knew that Scourge could have only ended up in the artic with him, if he engaged the enemy.

" **Your 'orders' were to wait tell I was told otherwise. Half way through the battle, our master instructed me to engage them."** Replied Scourge venomously.

Predaking replied to Scourge's comment with a swipe from his talon to Scourges head. The blow sent Scourge flying towards the edge of the cliff, with Scourge stopping just at the edge. The blow had left its mark as energon now began to flow from the cut that now went down the side of Scourge's head. Scourge tried to stand up but felt the familiar talon on his throat. Looking up he saw Predaking standing over him with his front right talon on Scourges throat.

" **Know your place omega."** Said Predaking in a dangerous tone. **"I am the Alpha, and you are the Omega. You are nothing compared to me, and I will always stand over you. You will do as I command, when I command. You will speak to me with respect, and without a mocking tone. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?"** Stated Predaking, and to emphasis to his point, brought fire from his gullet to his mouth.

Scourge once again tried to stand up but was forced right back down when Predaking brought his talon down harder. Finally seeing no other choice Scourge muttered **"Yes… sir."**

Pleased with the response Predaking got off him and turned around. He looked back to Scourge as he finally got back onto his talons and shock his head, removing any snow on him.

" **Come omega. We must return to our Master."** Ordered Predaking before taking off and flying east.

Scourge was about to take off and catch up with Predaking when a deep baritone voice stopped him. "… until I return."

Scourge looked around to try and identify where to voice came from, but only saw ice and snow in all directions. Seeing he needed to catch up with Predaking, he took off and began flying off after him. Soon he caught up and was flying just behind him.

As he was flying he couldn't help but think back to that voice. It sounded… so familiar, like he had heard it a million times. But from where?

And this was now not the first time it had happened. When he looked at the one mech that was white with green highlights, an image flashed before him. And then the femme said those strange words. And now he heard these words that seemed to come from no where. 'what does it all mean?' he wondered.

(The Nemesis)

"Is it really wise for Shockwave to spawn an army beasts?" question Starscream to Megatron. "here in this laboratory? Or with in any part of this warship?" he continued "I mean even the two beasts we had weren't compact enough to stroll these corridors. Without tearing them asunder."

He the turned to Shockwave and said with a slight mocking tone. "which reminds me. I'm so very sorry for your loss."

"I was referring to my off-sight laboratory. Which we have erected expressly for the cloning procedures" Shockwave said flatly.

Starscream stood shocked for a moment before sighing "You think of everything, don't you?" he said frustrated.

As soon as he said that the Nemesis shock causing everyone on the warship to stagger slightly.

"We are under attack!" stated Starscream, as he assumed the obvious, and slightly panicked. "Autobots?" he then questioned.

"Illogical." Replied Shockwave as he accessed a monitor to see what was happening. They could hear what ever was on the nemesis moving and even Megatron stood slight uneasy.

"Though there appears to be an enormous mass on the upper haul." Stated Shockwave, and with that all three of them began making their way towards the flight deck to see what it was. As they got there they could see a full squadron of fighters waiting there. Encase if it was indeed the Autobots. As they approached the hanger doors they began to open and as the doors moved aside they were all shocked to see Predaking standing there with Scourge behind him to his left slightly. As they approached the beasts, the beasts also began walking forward, and stopped just in front of them.

"How did those things find us?" questioned a shocked Starscream.

"Predacons possess precise homing instincts." Replied Shockwave

"And astonishing resilience." Added Megatron who was impressed.

"Starscream." He then said gaining the seeker's attention. "Assume command of my beasts." He ordered before turning around and began walking back into the nemesis.

Starscream began to panic slight and replied "Me, Master?"

"I mean I wouldn't dream of ceasing such an honour from their very creator." He then added.

"Military command of the predacons is most logical. Since my services are required elsewhere." Stated Shockwave as he walked past Starscream.

Soon everyone had entered the nemesis and the hanger bay doors closed leaving Starscream outside and alone with the predicons. He rested his hands on the door for a moment until a growling caught his attention. He looked over his shoulder to see both predacons walking over to him, and he screamed and cowered in fear of the beasts.

(Autobot Temporary Base)

Ratchet was working on the console glad to finally have some peace and quiet. With no one in the base currently he was able to make progress on the synthetic energon formula, despite the lack of tools at his disposal. But now he was currently standing and monitoring the others progress. As he waited for an update on the situation he heard the sound of an engine. As he turned to look at the entrance of the hanger he saw a military jeep come rolling in and come to a stop. After a couple of seconds the jeep turned off and Agent Fowler stepped out while on his phone.

"…Yes. That will be fine sir." He said into the phone. As he continued to walking into the hanger he continued to talk into the phone. "Of course sir… that would be great general… okay. I will tell them as soon as they get back from their mission sir… how soon?... I'll… have to get back to you on that one sir… yes sir. Thank you sir." He then proceeded to hang up on the phone and let out a sigh with a small smile.

As he walked further into the base he called "Ratchet."

"Yes Agent Fowler?" replied Ratchet as he turned around to face the agent.

"When Prime gets back tell him we need to get everyone together for a meeting. Uncle Sam's gotta gift for all of you." He said as he crossed his arms.

"Really now? Well this I can't wait to hear." Replied Ratchet dryly manner.

Agent Fowler just shock his head at Ratchet's response and proceeded to walk to his office to get the paper work ready.

(The Nemesis)

Starscream had spent the last hour trying to get the predacons into the ship. But so far things have gone the exact opposite as he hoped. Finally having enough, he tried to get them in by using a energon prod.

"You miserable beasts, I am your commanding officer and I order you to crawl into your kennel now!" he ordered as he pointed to the entrance to the ship. Both predacons proceeded to look at each other with a look of 'who does this nut think he is' before just lying down on the flight deck.

"I SAID GO ALREADY!" he yelled as he proceeded to prod Scourge in the leg, which did little more then anger him. Having enough Scourge unleashed a wave of fire at the seeker which he barely avoided by ducking at the last moment.

Once the fire cleared he stood back up back found the spike on the top of his helm to be burning again.

For the second time Starscream screamed and put the fire on top of his head out.

"Really? Your going to do that a second time!" said Starscream angrily.

All Scourge did in response was rest his head on his talons as he laid down once again.

Starscream growled in anger as he stormed off into the nemesis, while grumbling to himself. After a few moments Starscream had full disappeared into the nemesis and both predicons relaxed slightly.

" **About time! I was wondering if that one would ever give up."** Said scourge.

" **Indeed."** Replied Predaking.

" **Can we please throw that one over the side of the ship?"** Begged Scourge. **"I swear if I have listen to him for one more cycle my processor will fry."** He then added.

" **Despite how much I'm willing to agree with you on that one. If we do that then our master will punish us, so for now all we shall do is ignore that one."** Answered Predaking.

Scourge huffed before resting his head back down and closing his optics to get some recharge.

'Its going to be a long solar cycle.' He thought.

About a half hour passed before both beasts looked up and saw Starscream inside of the apex armour.

"Okay. Now in you two go." He stated as he pointed to the entrance of the nemesis.

Both predicons looked at him with anger and roared as if to say 'make us', with Starscream just chuckled smugly.

"Do your worst. The apex armour is virtual indestructible." He stated as he bumped his fist against for emphasis

Scourge growled before an idea hit him.

'Really? Well then time to play a game.' He thought.

He then proceeded to grab Starscream arm and swing him back and forth, all the while Starscream screaming at the top of his air tanks.

" **Hey Predaking, catch."** mumbled Scourge while holding onto Starscream as he then tossed Starscream towards him.

Predaking seemed to catch on to what he was implying as he caught Starscream mid air and also proceed to swing him back and forth. After a few seconds, he then threw Starscream back to Scourge.

This action continued a few more times before a couple of decepticons, making their rounds walked onto the flight deck. They watched as Starscream was thrown from one predicon to the other, as their heads fallowed the movements. All the while Starscream was still screaming and demanding to be 'let go' and 'release him'. After about three tosses both cons looked to each other before shacking their heads no and walking back into the nemesis.

Another ten minutes went by before Predaking finally threw Starscream into the arch way just about the hanger entrance. Starscream crashed into it before falling into the ground below with a thud.

"Starscream." Came Megatron's voice over the comms. "Are you with the beasts?"

"Yes master." Replied Starscream "we've been… reviewing attack maneuvers. They're doing quite well." He then added to make it sound like he was in control of the beast, to ensure Megatron didn't doubt his ability to command forces.

"One of the excavation teams have failed to report in." said Megatron.

"I shall assemble my seeker armada and…" started Starscream but was cut off by Megatron.

"I would prefer that you lead our newly return assets on this mission. So, that we may see if our predacons are as adept at fetching bones as they are hunting Autobots." He stated.

(The Bluffs Scotland, in the Caves)

Deep in the caves Ultra Magnus, Bulkhead, Wheeljack and Miko walked throughout the cave looking for predacon bones.

"Is this it?" asked Miko as she held something over her head.

Ultra Magnus turned around to see what Miko was referring to. "No. that is a rock" he said as he turned back around and continued walking down the cave.

Miko looked at the rock for a second before throwing it over her head and walking on. She then turned around to see Bulkhead and Wheeljack walking up.

"… Just like old time huh Jackie?" asked Bulkhead trying to lighten the mode between Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus.

"Except back then. I didn't need permission to pick my partners." Replied Wheeljack.

"Come on, we're all on the same team, hey beast hunters right." Tried Bulkhead. Wheeljack stopped and turned around to face Bulkhead.

"During all those cycles if took me to travel to earth. All I could think about was getting our band of brothers back together." He said with excitement. "But this isn't the line up I had in mind." He added bitterly as he turned to look at ultra Magnus.

"You did the smart thing bulk. Leaving the wreckers when you did, while we were still bringing our A game. Before the rust set in." he then added before walking down the cave tunnel.

Miko had just finished climbing a pile of rocks to be a bit more at level with them.

"Wait I thought Wheeljack was the one who left the wrecker?" she asked.

"Jackie basically deserted once the wreckers fell under Ultra Magnus command. I transferred out before that, to join up with Optimus in the battle of thunderhead pass." Explained Bulkhead. "Sometime I feel like Jackie feels like I deserted him." He then added.

"You don't want to be the one who breaks up the band Bulk." Replied Miko.

The whole cave shock and Miko lost her footing and began to fall off the rock she was standing on. However, she was caught by Bulkhead, who held her securely.

Both Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack turned around and saw pieces of the ceiling come down as the shacking stopped.

"What was that?" wondered Bulkhead. Before anyone could answer they heard roaring coming from down the tunnel. Fallowed by multiple pairs of foot steps.

"What ever it is it's big." Stated Wheeljack, as the sounds got louder and closer. Soon they could see a shadow from down the tunnel, getting larger with each second.

"And its coming fast." he added. Ultra Magus walked up behind them as he looked down the tunnel to see what was coming. Their answer to what it was, was soon answered as both predacons came around the corner, and towards them.

"The predacons" said Ultra Magnus. "Lets roll" he ordered as he, Wheeljack and Bulkhead transformed into their vehicle modes and began driving down the tunnel.

Predaking was ahead and tried to take a bite out of Ultra Magnus, but Ultra magnus sped up to avoid its jaws. Miko the n pooped her head out of Bulkhead in shock.

"Their back?" she asked in shock.

Scourge then proceeded try and take them out by using fire as he breather fire right at them. However, all three were able to swerve out of the way and avoid the incoming fire ball. Predaking then lunged forwarded and tried to bite bulkhead, but he was able to stay just out of reach. Ultra Magnus then saw a separate tunnel to the left and swerved to go down it as did the other. Prediking skidded into the tunnel but was smashed into the wall as scourge was unable to avoid him in the tight space, and crashed into him. Both recovered quickly and chased after the autobots again and were quickly gaining ground. The autobots were in luck though as they the tunnel narrowed and both predicons became wedged with each other and the walls. Both Scourge and Predaking roared and unleashed a hail of fire at them.

"Accelerate!" commanded Ultra Magnus as all three put the peddle to the medal as the entered a clearing, and swerved to get out of the way of the fire balls.

All three stopped as the fire stopped and all they could hear was the predicons roaring and trying to get free.

Ultra magnus transformed as he looked back down the tunnel.

"That rock won't hold them forever. We need to contact base and request reinforcements." He stated.

"Wreckers don't call for back up." Said Wheeljack as he transformed as well and Ultra Magnus and bulkhead turned to look a Wheeljack.

"What Wheeljack means is that we can't get a commlink signal this far underground." said Bulkhead as he tried to defuse the situation.

Ultra Magnus thought about for a moment as what Bulkhead said and saw he had a point.

"Miko I have to get you out of here. I'm going to need you to climb." Said Bulkhead as he set Miko down, and looked up to the opening above.

"No way, I wanta help." Replied Miko.

"And you will. Your mission, reach my ship so you can contact Optimus Prime." Said Ultra Magnus, which seemed to change Miko's mind as she now had a mission.

"Yes sir." She answered as she gave a salute before running over to the wall and started climbing.

Soon she was out of sight and all three autobots turned to the tunnel entrance as the ground shock slightly and two roars echoed out.

"Not sure I like the sound of that." Stated Wheeljack.

"So uh?" questioned Bulkhead. Not sure what to do.

"We make our stand." Said Ultra Magnus as he brought the forge off his back and held it in a fighting stance. "Here and now." He added with bulkhead and Wheeljack activating their blasters.

Meanwhile Miko had just got to the top of the cave and pulled herself up and over from the edge. She took a few breaths before looking up and saw Ultra Magnus ship a little bit away. Seeing she was close she got up and began running towards the ship. But as she closed in the hatch began to open and she could hear Starscream talking. Seeing she needed to hide, she ran for one of the landing gears.

"…given that the ship is currently unoccupied. It would seem that the autobots did stumble upon our little mining operation." Said Starscream who was currently still in the apex armour.

"No worries, my predacons is no doubt dismantling the interlopers as we speak." He then stated.

"It was a challenge, but I managed to tame the savage beasts. Brought it to heed my every command." He gloated.

Miko poked her head out and watched as the cons talked. "come on, come on." She said impatiently.

"You're not wearing the armour to protect your self from them?" questioned one of the seekers, which caused Starscream to stop and turn around.

"From my beloved pet? Of course, not. In fact, its becoming quite warm in here." Replied Starscream as he tried to cover up his fear for the beasts. He then tapped the center of the armour and began to take it off. Once it was off he set it down on a pillar of rock and said. "Ah ventilation."

Mean while back in the cave, both Predaking and Scourge had free themselves and were now heading into the opening. Once in the open they saw Ultra Magnus standing there with the forge at the ready. Scourge was the first to attack as he charged at Ultra Magnus, but Ultra Magnus responded by bringing the forge to the side of his head. Scourge roared from the blow and took a few steps back to regain his bearing. Predaking then tried to attack but a command from Ultra Magnus changed that.

"Open fire" he then ordered, as both Wheeljack and Bulkhead came out from their hiding spots and began firing at the predicons.

Predaking tried to take out Bulkhead with his tail, but Bulkhead duck just in time to avoid it. Scourge brought fire from his gullet to his mouth and aimed it at Wheeljack before unleashing it. Wheeljack ran back a little in order to avoid the attack, as Bulkhead kept firing at Predaking. Predaking responded by also unleashing fire from his mouth as he waved his head around and try and take all of them out. Ultra Magnus ran forward and ducked under the fire as he closed in. once he was in range he slammed the forge against Predaking, which sent him flying into Scourge. Both predicons skidded a little before coming to a stop. Predaking roared in anger and tried to take out Ultra Magnus with his tail. However, he was stopped when Bulkhead jumped out and caught it.

"No you don't" he said.

Predaking respond to the wrecker by swinging his tail around and sent Bulkhead flying into Ultra Magnus, as both went into a wall. Upon closer inspection, it was clear both Bulkhead and Ultra Magnus were knocked out. Predaking was about to finish them off when blaster fire from behind caught his attention. As he turned around he saw Wheeljack standing on a rock ledge above them.

"Hey hot head." He taunted as he continued to fire at Predaking. Scourge stood up and watched as Predaking approach Wheeljack. Predaking brought fire from his gullet to his mouth and opened it as he prepared to melt the wrecker. Wheeljack then threw something at Predaking and upon closer inspection it turned out to be his grenade, and was heading right for Predaking's mouth. But as the bomb closed in its course was changed when Predaking knocked it away with his tail. The bomb then began bouncing off of the walls and Wheeljack watched worryingly as to wear it was going to land. When it did land, it stopped just a short distance away from Bulkhead and Ultra Magnus.

Bulkhead had finally regained conciseness and when he opened his eyes he saw the bomb in front of him. The display turned red and it began making a loud beeping noise signaling that it was going off.

"Oh, scrap." Cursed Wheeljack as the bomb went off and debris.

Back at the ship everyone turned as chunks of rock were sent skywards by the explosion. Starscream and his two seekers walked over towards the explosion and Miko took the opportunity to make a break for the ship. As Starscream reached the edge of the ship he smiled smugly.

"Ooowww, that will do some damage." He said.

He turned around and saw Miko running for the ship, giving an evil grin he walked up and stepped in front of her. Miko stopped and turned around to see Starscream standing over her. "Miko is it?" he then mocked as Miko looked a little worried.

Back in the caves Predaking and Scourge knocked the rubble off themselves and stood up. As they looked around they didn't see any sign of the autobots, buts something shined a short distance away from them.

" **What's that?"** asked Scourge as both predicons approached the object. Once there Predaking moved a rock out of the way revealing an optic.

" **Is that what I think it is."** Asked Scourge.

" **Indeed. Scourge take the fossil to the surface. I will check on our enemies."** Replied Predaking as he then ordered Scourge what to do. Scourge was about to retort but a growl from Predaking stopped him.

" **Yes, sir"** he said grudgingly as he picked up the fossil and headed for the opening.

Predaking tried for a few minutes to locate the enemy but he was unable to do so. The smoke masked their smell and there was to muck debris to look everywhere.

'they most likely perished in the explosion.' He thought. As he too turned and headed for the exit of the cave.

Back at the ship Starscream began mocking Miko.

"Oh I'm sorry were you trying to reach this ship? To call for help perhaps." He mocked, as he activated the lift and the platform began rising up.

Miko started running for the platform and Starscream tried to stop her by slamming fist down on her. But Miko jumped forwarded and avoided the attack. She then reached the platform and jumped to grab onto the edge. Starscream watch assumed at the what Miko was trying to do and walked up to the platform. Once there he tried again to hit her with his servo but Miko rolled out of the way. She looked to her right and saw the apex armour still resting on the rock that it was placed on.

Just then an idea hit Miko and she jumped off the platform straight towards the armour. She landed on it and the armour began to activate. It encased her and the armour began to unravel. The arms and legs spread out and the helmet sealed itself with Miko inside.

"Woah!" said Miko excitedly as she stood in the apex armour.

"What's the matter screamy? Can't pick one someone your own size?" she mocked as she began walking towards Starscream and his two seekers.

However, before she could do anything a roaring from above caught their attentions. They all looked up and the fossil dropped from the sky and bounced off the apex armour and landed on the ground.

"What do ya know, they do fetch." Said Starscream as he looked back up to the sky.

Miko heard a growling and turned around to see scourge land on top of the ship.

"Okay one predacon I can handle." She stated confidentiality as she bumped her fist together. However, she soon lost that confidence as Predaking also came from the sky and landed next to Scourge and growled at Miko.

"Scarp" said Miko fearfully "But two… not so much." She then added. She then turned and began running away from the ship to try and get away from the predacons. Predaking jump off the ship and landed in front of her, while Scourge landed behind her boxing her in.

They began circling her and Miko turned to try and keep an eye on both of them. Predaking was the first to attack this time as he latched his mouth around Miko's right arm. Just a moment later Scourge grabbed Miko's left arm in his mouth and both Predacons began tugging back and forth on Miko. While they tormented Miko Starscream chuckled at the scene.

Both predacons then threw her on the ground and began trying to claw at her. All the while Miko struggling to get free and away from the beasts.

"Go ahead. Make of wreck of her, as you two no doubt did the wrecker." Said Starscream.

Just then his commlink activated and Megatron's voice was heard over it.

"Starscream status report." He ordered.

"Master. We have secured the bone and the predacons are dealing with the autobots pet human as we speak." He replied as both predacons began tugging her back and forth again. "On my command of course." He then added.

"I will not risk losing a precious commodity to your arrogance." Responded Megatron darkly.

The predacons then threw her on the ground again and Miko slammed into the earth.

"I'll tear you apart for that." She stated. But the predacon then proceeded to breathe a constant wave of fire at her. She disappeared in the fire and smoke, as the predacons tried to fry her.

"Have the beasts return with my prize. Immediately!" ordered Megatron. "You can stay behind, and finish the autobots." He then added.

"Yes master" replied Starscream who then disconnected the call. "Assuming that I can converse the brainless brutes into..." he mumbled to himself but stopped when the predicons stood over him. Predaking then landed on top of him and roared viscously at him. He then turned to look at the fossil and picked it up with his mouth and fly off. Scourge also roared at Starscream and took off to catch up with Predaking.

"What? You two never obey my commands?" stated Starscream in disbelief, as the predicons flew off into the distance.

Starscream then stood up and face the two seekers that were with him. "You heard our master, we must locate the autobots. As soon as I retrieve what belong to me." He stated as he began walking towards Miko who laid motionless, and the ground burnt all around her.

"ntntnt. Even the strongest of armours can't protect the weakest of creatures." Stated Starscream once he stood over Miko and began to reach for the armour.

However, he was stopped when the armour all of a sudden moved and Miko grabbed him.

"Protected you, didn't it?" countered Miko, who then threw Starscream off of her and sent him stumbling backwards. She then grabbed him and began to spin him by his feet like you would in a Scottish hammer throw. She then let go and Starscream was sent flying into one of the seekers. The other seeker then began trying to blast Miko away but all the hots did was bounce off of the armour.

Miko than began running towards the con and once to him she double fisted him over her head. Starscream stood in disbelief, before firing a missile right at her. Miko caught it mid air and it exploded engulfing her in a sea of fire. But it proved to have no effect as she jumped up and out of the smoke right towards Starscream. When she came down she landed a double kick to Starscream which sent him flying.

The con that was still standing then tried to hit her with his claws but Miko dodged the attacks and proceeded to land hits of her own. The other con got up and joined the first in the attack and Miko dodge his attacks too, while returning hits of her own.

While she continued to fight the cons, Bulkhead, Wheeljack, and Ultra Magnus finally reached the top of the cliff and watched on in disbelief.

They heard her taunt as she continued to beat the scrap out of the two cons. "Who's, wrecking who now?"

"Miko?" asked Bulkhead as he still couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"perhaps you weren't wrong about the human after all." Stated Ultra Magnus as he was impressed by her display.

Starscream stood up and was furious about the fact that this human was beating her.

"You do realise I vanquished Cliffjumper, don't you." He said darkly.

"Big whoop. I snuffed Hardshell." She replied in an equally dark tone.

Before the battle could continue Starscream saw the autobot approaching and realised the battle was lost.

"Retreat!" he ordered as he turned around transformed and flew off, as the two other seekers did the same.

"ahh. They got away with the bone." She stated as she knew they failed their mission.

"Hey you brought your A game kid. Like a true wrecker." Replied Wheeljack as he bumped her on shoulder with pride. Miko smiled and so did Bulkhead as they knew he was right.

"And I want to remember us just like this." He stated before turning to look at Ultra Magnus. "Before the rust set in." he then added as he turned around and transformed and drove off.

"What? Where's Wheeljack going?" asked Miko in a worried tone.

"Solo." Replied sadly, as Miko looked at him in disbelief.

"Again?!" she asked still in disbelief.

"Jackie just broke up the band." Stated Bulkhead sadly as they turned to watch Wheeljack drive off into the distance.

(Autobot base a couple hours later)

Everyone with the exception Wheeljack was present in the autobots temporary base. Everyone stood around as they waited to hear what this news that agent Fowler wanted to tell them was.

"Agent Fowler." Came Optimus's voice as he gained the agents attention. "would you care to proceed and explain what it is you wish to share with us?" he then asked.

Agent Fowler smiled and nodded as everyone watched him.

"For the past week the brass has been busy disusing something important for the autobots, and just earlier today they came to an agreement." Started agent Fowler as he then brought out a file from inside his suit. "this is the location. The location to your new personal base." he then stated as everyone looked at him shocked, while he continued to smile.

(authors notes)

And done. So, where do you think the base will be located, and what do you think it will look like. I'm interested to see what you guys think.

Now I want to answer a question that some of you are asking, which is am I going to add other characters, and to answer your question. I'm not sure yet. Maybe later on but for right now I don't think I will add any.

I will try and get another chapter up within the next week. But I can't promise anything. But I do promise I will get it up, so just be patient.

Thankyou to those who are fallowing this story and to those of you who are reviewing. I appreciate the feed back, and I do read them.

Until next time this is the forgotten soldier signing off.


	9. Chapter 9

(Authors notes)

So, last chapter I asked where you guys thought the base would be located. Now one of you suggested I use the NEST base from the movies. Now I thought about using it, but the more I thought about it, the more it didn't seem to make sense to me. Now here are my reasons why I didn't use nest. 1 is that they would just be switching from one military base for another which doesn't really make sense. 2 is that they need a place less noticeable and a military base like NEST wouldn't due in staying off the radar. The third and finally point is human involvement. We all know TFP Optimus would not let humans get involved in their war so a base with humans walking around would be a big no no.

Also, I have had a few suggestions for more character, and for right now I think I will stick with the regular cast. But I will try and put more characters in it later on.

Now I do what your honest opinion on my idea for the base and its locations. I want to know if you guys are okay with it or if you guys wanted something different.

(We can always blow this one up ;) )

Now without further a due let's begin.

(Autobot temporary base)

Everyone inside stood shocked as they looked at agent Fowler.

"Agent Fowler, did you just say a new base?" asked Ratchet as he thought his audio receptors were faulting.

"Yes I did Ratchet." Responded Fowler.

"You mean we get a new base!" exclaimed Miko. "Sweet. Where is it!? What does it look like!? When can we see it!? Does it have a pool!?" she then added but was stopped when June grabbed her shoulder.

"Miko, let Fowler talk." She said as Miko took deep breaths to catch her breath.

"Despite Miko's rambling, I am too interested in knowing about this new base." Responded Ratchet, as he then turned back to fowler.

"Agent Fowler. Could you please debrief us on this new base" asked Optimus as he too was interested in knowing about this base.

Agent Fowler nodded and opened the file and began to read the file to everyone.

"Of course Prime… now the base is located in British Columbia, Canada." He stated as he started to explain the new base.

"Wait Canada, how could we get a base there?" asked June. "Surely the Canadian government don't know about them." She then added while gesturing to the bots. Fowler turned to her and raised his hand.

"I'm getting to that. Now the base is located in between Stikine River Provincial Park and Denetiah Provincial Park, with both parks being in the northern region. There we have an old nuclear research facility, where we did a lot of our nuclear development research during the cold war." Said agent fowler as he read over the file.

"I thought that the research was done at Los Alamos, in New Mexico?" questioned Raf.

"That was where we developed the first bomb yes. But after the start of the cold war with the Russians, we needed to find a different location so that the Russians would not learn the US's secrets." Replied Fowler.

"So they put it in the north?" asked Miko.

"Yup. Because the Russians were so focus on searching on US soil for the research. They never found it..." he explained but was cut off by Ratchet.

"Because they were looking in the wrong place." Ratchet stated as he was slightly impressed by the tactic.

"Bingo" responded Fowler as he pointed to Ratchet.

"But why Canada of all place." Asked June as she still couldn't get over the fact that it was in another country.

"Because a lot of the uranium that we used during the cold war came from Canada and Alaska. In fact, about 10 miles north was the secret mine where that facility got their uranium. And because we're allies with our neighbors to the north, we were given permission to put the facility there. Under the conditions that if it were found, that the Canadians had no ties to it, and that we went behind their back and put it there." Said Fowler as he explained why to June.

"In the late ninety as the war ended, the research facility was closed, and all the research went elsewhere. Now because we're fighting the cons and we're worried that they will look at every base on us soil…" he then added but was once again cut off, this time by Ultra Magnus.

"You're thinking of using the same tactic again." He said.

"Right." Replied Fowler, as he was glad to see that they were able to fallow along.

"Agent Fowler. How did your government manage to convince the Canadian government to allow them re access to this facility?" asked Optimus.

"We told our allies that we needed it to hide a new project we had and the facility would be able to hide it from a mercenary group looking for the project. They agreed… under the condition that it wasn't any weapons. And since you guys are a team not a weapon we could agree to the terms, and well here we are." Answered Fowler.

Optimus smiled at the news, and was thankful for Fowler to help get them access to this new base.

"So… went can we go see it." Asked Bulkhead.

"As soon as you want to get there. I have the exact coordinates to the top of the facility. Or the secret tunnel that leads to the facility from a road miles away." Answered fowler.

"Ratchet could you please prepare the ground bridge so that we may see our new home." Asked Optimus.

"Of course Optimus." Responded Ratchet as he turned and began walking to the console with Fowler.

A few minutes went by and everyone talked excitedly at what the base may look like. Finally, after the last of the conversations died down the ground bridge activated and everyone turned to fowler as he stepped in front of the portal.

"Well let's go see your new home." He said with a wave to come forth as he turned and began walking towards the portal.

Everyone looked at each other before walking through the portal as well, and when they emerge on the other side they were all stunned by the beautiful scenery around them. To the north and west of them was a mountain range that stretched farther then they could see. To the east was a river with clear blue water running down stream, and to the south of them lied a thick forest of trees that were larger then most had ever seen in person.

As they looked down they saw that they were standing on a large helicopter pad. That despite being abandoned for over twenty years was in good condition. The paint had faded and there were even small shrubs starting to grow on it, but nothing that couldn't easily be fixed.

Optimus was the last to come through and the portal closed behind him. "Ratchet will stay at base to monitor for Decepticon activity, and activate the ground bridge for our return when we are ready." He said as everyone nodded.

Agent Fowler walked forwards to a pair of hanger doors that were ahead of the helicopter pad and pulled on a lever that was hidden behind a support beam on the right side. The hanger doors then began to retreat apart all the while squeaking due to not being used in years. Soon they fully opened and revealed a passage down underground.

"Well this way." Said Fowler as he gestured to the tunnel before turning around and began walking down the passage to the underground base.

Team prime then followed him and down the tunnel that seemed to just keep going. After about a minute of walking they finally entered what would best described as the command center, or at least use too.

The area was fairly large and the roof stood high above them allowing everyone, even Optimus to stand tall without hitting the ceiling. Over to their right was a raised platform that looked like at one point was used to track everything in the facility. There was a few desks and the odd old monitor but besides that, was vacant of stuff.

To their left was a tunnel that only went about 50 meters before stopping, with a few pieces of heavy equipment left behind. Optimus looked at it and thought it would make a good place to place the ground bridge once they moved it here.

Ahead of them was another tunnel that went down further into the base and out of side. They all walked into the center of the room and looked at fowler.

"Well here we are. This is your new command center." Said Fowler as he gestured around the room.

" _Gotta say. This isn't half bad."_ Said Bumblebee though Fowler didn't understand him.

"You could say that again Bee. I could get use to this." Respond Bulkhead as he liked the amount of room the room had.

"Glad you think so two tone." Responded Fowler.

"So what's down there?" asked Miko.

"That leads to the further levels, where a lot of the research and early testing was done." Responded Fowler as he then saw Optimus look concerned for a moment and began to open his mouth. "And I was told that there is no radioactive material left, so its perfectly safe." Responded fowler as he knew prime was worried for the children sake.

"I thought that those rooms would ether make good storage rooms or corridors for the team. They are all roughly the same size so you can choose what you want to do to them as you wish. There is also some barracks so the kids and June can stay on base as well." Fowler then added.

"Can we go see?" asked Miko excitedly.

"Of course." Stated Fowler as he moved to the side so that they could go down to the lower levels.

Everyone except Optimus and Ultra Magnus who stayed to speak to Fowler, began to walk down to the lower levels to see the rest of the base. They walked down for about a minute before they reached an intersection and looked down the halls.

"Hey bulk. Let's check this way out." Said Miko as she pointed to the left hall.

"What ever way you want to go, Miko." Respond Bulkhead as both then began to walk down the left hall.

"Hey Bee. Do you want to see what's down there?" Raf asked as he looked to Bumblebee after looking down the right hall.

" _sure Raf."_ Answered Bumblebee as they began to walk down the right hall but were stopped by Smokescreen.

"Is it alright if I join you?" he asked.

" _Sure smokescreen."_ Said Bumblebee as he nodded his head.

Smokescreen smiled and walked down the hall with Raf and Bumblebee as they checked the right hall.

"Want to see what's behind door number three?" asked June to Arcee as they looked down the center hall.

"Why not." Responded Arcee with a smile and both June and Arcee began walking down the center hall.

(With Bulkhead and Miko)

Miko and Bulkhead walked down the left hall, as they looked through the rooms as they went. So far they hadn't seen anything to exciting, beside a couple of rooms that looked like for storage. Despite not being use for years, like the rest of the base it was fairly good. Even thought the rooms and even parts of the halls were covered in cobwebs, which made Miko a little nervous.

"So what do think so far Miko?" asked Bulkhead.

"nnneeehh. Not bad I guess. But I want find a room that's really cool!" she said excitedly as she turned to Bulkhead.

"Well here might be what your looking for." Responded Bulkhead as he saw to their right was a pair of solid steel doors much larger then the others they had seen so far.

"Sweet. Why don't we see what's in there?" she asked excitedly as she then began to run towards the door. Once she reached the door she then began to try and pry them apart, in a almost comedic fashion. After giving it a few tries she stop and began panting as she tried and catcher breath.

"Why don't I try?" asked Bulkhead as then stepped forwards and grabbed the steel doors. Giving them a large heave he opened them slowly and soon had the doors open enough that they could enter.

Once in they tried to find a light switch as unlike the rest of the base, the lights weren't on. Miko felt for the lights along the walls in the pitch black before her hand felt them.

"Found them." She announced as she then turned them on.

Once she turned the switch on, the room began to light up and both Miko and Bulkhead looked on in awe. The room was huge compared to the others, as the room could all of team prime about ten times with room still to spare. The walls were lined with thick steel that looked like could take a beating. The floor was also lined in the same steel but unlike the walls, was two different shades, giving them a checkered pattern. The roof was high above and stood about as high a roof in their old base with steel beams lining the roof with lights attached.

"Sweet! Now this… is a good place for band practice!" said Miko as ran further into the room.

"You can say that again Miko, this room would be great for lobbing with Jackie." Answered Bulkhead who then suddenly looked down at the ground in sadness at the thought of Wheeljack.

Miko seemed to catch on and tried to cheer him up.

"Hey don't worry bulk. Wheeljack will come back, and who knows? Maybe even a few more wreckers will come and join the band." Said Miko as she tried to cheer up Bulkhead.

"I wish I had your optimism Miko, because I don't think Jackie will come back any time soon." Responded Bulkhead as he closed his eye sadly.

(with Raf, Bumblebee and Smokescreen)

Raf, Bumblebee and Smokescreen walked down the hall as they looked in rooms. So far all the rooms they have seen have been to small for Bumblebee and Smokescreen to enter, and all Raf had seen is supple closets and maintenance rooms. So, they continued down the hall to see what else they could find.

As they walked down the hall smokescreen looked deep in thought as he thought about what happened when he was with Optimus.

'What would have happened if I DID accept the matrix?" wonder Smokescreen. 'After everything I done and been through, I some how still the rookie. I wonder how Bee dealt with being a rookie?' he then wondered.

As they continued to walk he decided to turn to Bumblebee and ask. "Hey Bee. When did… the rest of the team stop treating you like a rookie?"

Bumblebee stop and turn to look at him " _Its_ _hard to say. It just… slowly went away I guess. Why?"_ he then questioned back.

"I guess… I guess I'm just tired of being treated like a rookie. I mean I have been on a few missions with you guys." Responded Smokescreen.

"Well we don't think your one, right Bee?" stated Raf as he looked to his guardian.

" _Right Raf."_ Responded Bumblebee with a nod.

Smokescreen smiled slightly as he then said "Thanks guys."

" _No worries. We all know what your going through. Just hang in there, I'm sure things will change soon."_ Stated Bumblebee as he then turned and began walking down the hall with Raf as smokescreen fallowed them after smiling slightly.

They walk around a corner and came face to face with a hall with about ten rooms on ether side, with large doors that would allow even Optimus to walk through with ease. They soon walked to the first door on the left to see what was behind it. Once they opened the door they saw that the room was complete void of any items. It was also not very large as it was about fifteen meters by fifteen meters. Large enough that one of them lie in there, without it becoming to tight, but not much more then that. They then walked to the next room and found the same thing as the first, and then found the same thing with the next and the next. Soon they had looked into all the rooms and found that they were all the same. Completely empty with a space of about fifteen meters by fifteen meters.

"Hey Bee. Do think this meant to be everyone's new person quarters?" asked Raf as he thought that each room was meant for one of them.

Bee thought about for a moment before looked to Raf. _"I think your right Raf. These must be for where we recharge."_ He said.

"Well if that's the case…" started Smokescreen as he walked down to the fourth one on the right. "…I call this one." Then finished from inside the room.

(With June and Arcee)

June and Arcee walked down the center as they looked around. And so far, all they have seen was a few small rooms for human supplies. As they walked down the hall the silence was broken by June.

"Arcee. Could I ask you something?" asked June as she thought about something. Arcee stopped and turn to look at June.

"Of course." She replied as she then knelt down be more at level with her.

June took a deep breath as she tried and turn her thoughts into words. "Arcee… how do you feel about Jack?"

That caught Arcee off guard, as she was not expecting that question.

"What do you mean?" she asked confused.

"Well… before all this went down. You two were spending a lot of time together, and well… you too have gotten pretty close."

"So?" said Arcee as she was now becoming slightly nervous. "Jack and I are friends." She added.

"Really? Nothing else?" Responded Jun as she crossed her arms and began tapping her foot.

"Y-ya… just friends." Answered Arcee as she tried to lie.

June could clearly tell she was lying "Arcee, don't you lie to me." She stated with a voice that she had perfected, by using on Jack for so many years.

Arcee then began stumbling for words as she tried to find a way out of this.

"Why are you asking this?" she asked in an attempt to get out of the question.

"I heard you talking with Optimus after he found that fossil. And that you told him that you were in 'LOVE' with my son. So, I will ask again, how do you feel towards my son?" stated June, and then asked in a commanding voice.

Arcee gasped as she just found out that June had heard that conversation. She then began stumbling to find words again as tried to find a way out of this. But after a few short seconds she saw there was no way out of this. So she decided to take deep breath and come clean with June.

"I'm… I'm in love with your son June." She answered shyly as she wasn't ready to talk about this with her.

"And how long have you felt this way?" June then asked.

"I… only found out that myself during that conversation with Optimus. Speaking of which, why were you listening in?" responded Arcee as she asked a question of her own.

"I was just walking by to go outside, but I heard you mention my sons name. So, that instantly got my attention. As I listened I heard you say that you love him." Answered June dryly.

Arcee was becoming more nervous now, as she didn't what was going to happen next.

"June. Are… are you okay with the way I feel about Jack?" she asked and was worried that June would not accept her.

June gave her a dark look for a few seconds, which only made Arcee worry even more. But that look soon disappeared and was replaced with a small smile.

"Yes Arcee. I'm okay with it." She finally answered.

"R-really?" asked Arcee who was flabbergasted by June's response.

"Yes Arcee. I know you will always be there for him, I know you make him happy. So yes, I'm okay with it." She answered.

Arcee was shocked by June's response as she thought she wasn't going to allow her to be with her son. But to now find out that she was okay with it filled her with joy.

"Thanks June." Said Arcee as she pulled June into a hug.

"Your welcome Arcee." Responded June with a chuckle.

Arcee then put June back down and both began to walk down the hall. However, they soon stopped as Arcee turned to her.

"June how do you 'know' I make him happy?" she asked.

"Well for one… a month before Jasper was destroyed Jack would say your name in his sleep every night." Responded June as she chuckled at the memory.

"Wait really?" Arcee then tried to confirm as a mysterious grin began form on her face.

"Yep" was all June said in respond.

Arcee then began to laugh as the both of them began to walk down the hall again. "OH! I'm am so going to us that to my advantage!" She stated as then both June and Arcee laughed as they continued to walk down the hall.

(Authors notes)

And done.

So ya, the new base is in Canada. Now I do want you guys to tell me what you think about it. I did have Fowler explain why it would make a good base but I want your thoughts on it.

So next chapter things are going to pick up as the plot starts to thicken and start to learn what happened to Jack so lets see what happens.

Until next time, this is the forgotten soldier 343, signing off.


	10. Chapter 10

(authors notes)

Hello everyone, so its time for another chapter. I would like to thank those who left comments. Some of you gave me some ideas and one of you pointed out a flaw with the base so I will have to take that into account and work on. So, for that thankyou.

Now with out further a due let's begin.

(Autobots new base)

Everyone had finished exploring the base and had now regrouped in the command center of the base. Raf and Miko were exchanging what they had found in the base while the bots did the same. The only ones not partaking in the conversation were Optimus Ultra Magnus and Fowler, who were merely finishing on a last few questions about the base.

After a few minutes of chatter everyone looked at Optimus as he turned to look at them and step forward slightly.

"I trust everyone is pleased, with the condition of our new home?" he asked as everyone began nodding their heads.

"Very good, because Agent fowler has told me that we can move into our new home, as soon as we are ready. Upon our return, everyone is to gather everything of importance. Because as soon as we are ready we will be transported here and begin settling into our new home." He stated as everyone nodded.

Everyone then turned and began walking towards the exit where they all waited on the helicopter pad for a ground bridge.

"Ratchet, would you please activate the ground bridge." Asked Optimus over the comms.

"Of course Optimus." Replied Ratchet as a ground bridge opened up in front of them moments later.

Everyone then began walking through the ground bridge and found themselves back in hanger E. When everyone had finally walked through, Ratchet deactivated the ground bridge.

"So, how was it?" asked Ratchet as he continued to look at the console.

"Your gonna love it Ratchet. There is so much more room." Stated Bulkhead.

"Oh I'm sure Bulkhead." Responded Ratchet dryly not even bothering to look away from the monitor.

"Ratchet." Said Optimus gaining Ratchet's attention. "I need you to dismantle the ground bridge so that we may transport it to our new home." He then stated, which caused Ratchet looked shocked.

"B-but Optimus. We need the Ground bridge. What if Megatron finds another fossil, Or-or an energon source?" asked Ratchet Shocked.

"Megatron has already gathered fossils recently. Which means, it will take time before he can have his troops locate more, and that means now is the best time to transport it. Once we have the ground bridge at our new base, we will be able to confront Megatron, should he locate anymore predacon remains." Responded Optimus.

Ratchet stuttered for a few moments trying to find a reason as to why they shouldn't dismantle the ground bridge, buts sadly couldn't. He slumped down slightly as he responded, "Yes Optimus." Before turning around and grabbing his tools with his head down.

After grabbing his tools Ratchet began walking towards the ground bridge to begin dismantling it.

(The Nemesis)

It was currently night time where the nemesis was, as it flew through the air. The sky was slightly cloudy as only a few stars shinned in the sky.

Scourge was currently laying on the flight deck on the warship. His head rested on his talons as he was deep in thought. He was currently thinking about the image in his head when he looked at the one bot, and the voices that he had also heard. But the more and more he thought about it the more it didn't make sense.

'Why is this happening to me?' he wondered. 'I know I had never seen or heard those things before. But they felt familiar, but why?'

Scourge continued to think about what they could mean for a few more minutes before getting frustrated. He stood up and began pacing, as he continued to think about what happened. As he continued to pace Predaking opened his eyes and looked at Scourge.

" **Must you!?"** questioned Predaking angrily.

Scourge gave no response and just continued to pace, still thinking about what happen.

" **Scourge!"** roared Predaking gaining Scourge's attention. **"Cease your mindless pacing at once. Or do I need to make you?"** he then stated threateningly as he sized up Scourge.

Scourge not wanting to be beaten to scrap again immediately stop, though somewhat grudgingly.

" **That's what I thought?"** said Predaking as he laid back down.

Mean while on the command bridge of the nemesis Megatron watched his beasts from a feed provided by Soundwave. Megatron watched as his beasts growled at each other. It had now been days since they were last sent out to try and hunt down the autobots, and he was slightly concerned that his beasts may loss their edge if they didn't get out often enough.

As he continued to think of an idea as to keep his beasts at their best, Shockwave walked onto the bridge, with the doors closing behind him. Megatron turned and watched as Shockwave approached and bowed.

"Lord Megatron." Shockwave said as came out of his bow.

"Shockwave. Have you managed to locate anymore predicon bones?" Megatron asked.

"No master." Responded Shockwave as he shook his head no. "I am still trying to isolate the precise frequency that I used for the microchips on the predicons." He then stated.

"I see." Was all Megatron said as he turned around to look out the front of the nemesis.

"Shockwave, I believe my beasts are losing their edge. How can you insure that they still remain at their peak?" asked Megatron. Shockwave was silent for a few moments before answers.

"Perhaps by giving them an object aboard the ship to locate, and have it ground bridged to a random location. By giving them the scent, they could track it to its location." Was his response.

"Hhhhmmm. And what object would you suggest?" Megatron then asked.

"I still have a sample of Scourge's blood from when he was still organic. Because they share a similar scent, it would make it very difficult to track, and truly test their tracking abilities." Shockwave said as he gave his thoughts on what to use. Megatron thought it over for a minute before grinning and turning to face Shockwave once more.

"Very well. Once you have a sample, give it to Soundwave." He stated as he turned to face Soundwave.

"Soundwave I want you to find a location and send the sample to it. Once you have done that, send my beasts to retrieve it, so that we can test their tracking skills." He then said as he looked over to Soundwave, who just nodded.

"Yes Master." Responded Shockwave as he and Soundwave turned and began walking out of the bridge and towards Shockwaves lab.

Once at Shockwaves lab, Shockwave turned to Soundwave and said. "I require a few cycles to duplicate the cells and create another sample."

Soundwave just nodded and Shockwave walked to a shelf that held some of his equipment, he grabbed several items and place them on the table in front of him. He then walked over to a storage shelf and grabbed a sample of Jacks blood that he took a while back. Once he had the sample he walked over to his equipment and began to duplicate it. After using several devices, he poured some into another test tube. He then placed in into a centrifuge and let it run for a few minutes. When the centrifuge he grabbed it, and saw that he now had a greater amount then before. He poured some into a container and poured the rest back into the original container.

Once he was done he turned to Soundwave handed him the extra sample.

"This should suffice in the predicons being able to track. Give them a chance to grab its scent then proceed to send it to its destination." Said Shockwave as he took a step back, and Soundwave nodded.

As Shockwave began to clean up his work space Soundwave turned around and began to walk to the flight deck of the Nemesis.

After making a few turns he found himself at the main doors to the flight deck. As they opened he saw both predicons look at him and began to walk towards him.

"Soundwave I want you to find a location and send the sample to it. Once you have done that, send my beasts to retrieve it, so that we can test their tracking skills." Came Megatron's voice from the recording of the conversation earlier, from Soundwave.

He then held out the sample and both predicons began sniffing it to get its scent. Once they had the scent they stepped back and Soundwave activated the ground bridge. He then tossed the sample through and closed the ground bridge moments later.

With the task done Soundwave turned around and began walking back into the nemesis. Once gone both Predaking and Scourge began sniffing the air trying to locate the scent. As they began sniffing they soon found that the scent was coming from each other.

" **Why is it that you have the scent coming from you?"** Asked Predaking.

" **I was about to ask you the same thing."** Stated Scourge.

" **We can not locate the scent, being next to each other. We shall split up and see if we can trace the scent by being apart."** Said Predaking. He then leapt into the air and began flying in a random direction to put so distance between him and Scourge.

" **Don't need to tell me twice."** Mumbled Scourge to himself as he took off in the opposite direction.

About a half hour passed and Scourge flew around trying to find the scent. While he flew, he thought about the weird things that had been happening to him. He was brought out of his thoughts though when he smelled something.

He found it, he had found the scent. He immediately turned towards it and began flying in it's direction.

'Well it could have been harder.' He thought.

He became confused though when he found a second scent! It was much fainter then the first one, but was the same scent all the same.

'What could that be?' he wondered. He knew the large scent was what he had to retrieve but he wondered what the other one was.

With curiosity getting the better of him he changed course and turned towards the second scent. He flew towards the scent it which grew stronger and stronger. After about an hour of flying he found himself in familiar skies as he saw the remains of Darkmount in the distance.

'Why is the scent coming from here?' he wondered. But as he closed the distance he found the scent wasn't from Darkmount, it was coming from the remains of Jasper. This confused Scourge even more as he wondered why the scent was coming from an organic settlement.

He flew over the town to try and find out where in the town the scent was coming from. He looked to his right as the scent was coming from a division of houses that looked the same. He landed on the street and began walking down the destroyed road as he closed in on the scent. As he looked around he saw many of the home were completely destroyed, while others were badly damaged. He turned left as he walked down the road to where the scent seemed to be coming from, and saw the houses on this street were no better. He walked down the road and stopped when he found the scent to be coming from one of the houses.

He looked to his left as he examined the house that the scent was coming from. The hanger on left side was complete caved in and was nothing more then rubble. The front wall was burned badly as an explosion happened on the ground in front of it, leaving a crater, and a large hole was seen in the wall and roof on the right side of the house.

It was also where the scent was coming from, so Scourge walked up to the house and looked into the interior of house from the hole. The room was not very big, with it barely being the size of Scourge's head. There was a berth in the far corner of the room away from the door that was completely messed up and burnt slightly from the blast that left the hole. Along the ground was varies item that Scourge didn't find interesting. A dresser was on the same wall as the door with a monitor on it, but it was cracked and damage as debris must have hit it.

A dim flash of blue light caught his attention as he looked down to a stand next to the bed. The stand was covered in dust but the object on it was still visible. It was an odd shape as it was it looked somewhat like a hexagon that was stretched at the top and compressed at the bottom. It was made of thousands of tiny parts with it being a mixture of silver and blue.

Scourge could tell that this was cybertronian in nature, but why was it here in an organic house? What he didn't realise was that he found the key to Vector Sigma that was on his night stand at his house when he was still Jackson Darby.

The key flashed a dim light blue colour again and Scourge leaned in to get a better look. He sniffed it and found the scent was coming from it.

'Why is it coming from this, and why is this here?' he wondered.

When he leaned in towards the key a second time, something happened. The key glowed a bright blue and light flashed out of it causing Scourge to close his eye. When he opened his eyes however, he was shocked to see he was small and inside the house. He was even more confused to see it was now completely in tacked and the room looked like it was in use.

'What's going on?' he wondered.

He was brought out of his thoughts when the door to the room opened and a boy with black hair walked in. He was wearing lose clothes and was carrying a large piece of cloth in his left hand which he used to rub against his head. He looked to be wet which meant that he had just been wet. What shocked Scourge though was that the object hanging from a chain around his neck.

Scourge roared at him but the boy didn't give him any response, as if he wasn't there. He then walked into the room after shutting the door and towards Scourge. Scourge roared again but the boy just kept walking. Scourge was shock and completely confuse and was even more so when he passed through him as if he were a spirit.

Once at the berth the boy tossed the piece of cloth on the berth and let of a deep breath.

"Aaahhh, much better." He said.

"Jack, can I come in?" came a female voice from the other side of the door which was slightly muffled.

"Ya, Mom." Responded the boy as he took the key off and placed it on the night stand.

The door opened and a woman with black hair that went down to the middle of her back with white clothes on. she looked to be older then the boy, so Scourge assumed that this was who he called 'mom'.

"I have to work a half an extra shift to night to so I will be late getting home to night." She stated to the boy called Jack. She looked over to the night stand and saw the key resting on it.

"Jack should you not have that on you. Optimus said that if you were to keep that you were to keep it on you at all time." She said some what worried.

"I can't mom. I have a fitness test tomorrow, and after that we have a physical check up at school. I can't have in on me during then, and I can't leave it in the locker room because someone might steal it. So, I have to leave it here." Responded the boy. The woman relaxed slightly and the boy continued.

"But I plan on having Arcee come here after so I can grab it after school, before we head to base, so its only for a little while." He then said which caused the woman to fully relax.

"Okay. I have to get going, you have a good day at school." She said as she pulled the boy into a hug.

"MOM!" whined the boy. The woman chuckled and realised the boy and went to the door and opened the door.

"Have a good day sweetie." She then said, as the boy huffed.

"You too." He then responded.

The room then started to glow white, and the light grew brighter until it completely engulfed Scourge's vision. He closed his eyes because of the light, but when he opened them he found he back to his original size and the room was destroyed once more.

'What was that?' he wondered as he could not make sense of what just happened.

He looked back down at the object that had just shown him this strange vision.

'I should bring this with me' he thought as he leaned into the house and gentle grabbed the key with his mouth.

Once he was sure the key was secure in his mouth and would not slip he backed away from the house and took off to fly back towards the nemesis. Scourge flew for about two hours before finally saw the ship in the distance. He could also smell the container which meant that Predaking had found it.

'Great' Scourge thought sarcastically as he flew towards the flight deck.

As he came up to the flight deck he saw Predaking along with Shockwave, Soundwave, Starscream, Knockout and even Megatron. As he landed he saw them turned to look at him as he approached. Scourge walked up and stopped slightly away from Predaking as he faced the others.

"Scourge, I am… disappointed that you were not able to locate the container." Stated Megatron who slightly glared at Scourge.

Scourge looked down slightly because of this as Megatron continued.

"I am also disappointed at how long it took you to return. Predaking has been here for quiet some time, so where have you been?" he then stated as he walked forward.

Scourge lowered his head to the flight deck and let the key out of his mouth, which hit the deck floor with a light thud. Megatron looked utterly shocked as he looked at the key, but then grinned evilly as he leaned in to grab it. Once it was in his servo he began chuckling darkly as he turned around and the other saw it.

"It can't be! Is that…" asked Starscream who was completely shocked at seeing the key.

"It's defies logic" stated Shockwave who was also stunned.

"The key to Vector Sigma, yes." Said Megatron who was still grinning.

"But how?" asked Starscream as still couldn't wrap his head around on how the predacon had found it.

Sound wave walked forward which gained everyone's attention. He then brought up the image of Raf, Miko and Jack, as he zoomed in on Jack. Megatron caught on to what Soundwave was implying and began chuckling again.

"Of course. Because Optimus chose the boy to hold the key, he had unknowingly left his scent on it." He said as he chuckled once more before continuing. "And since he didn't have it when we captured him, he must have left it somewhere, and because we sent beasts out to find the scent." He then added.

"The predacon had located the key instead." Finished Starscream who was now angry that predacon was now on Megatron's good side, which meant it would be harder to get rid of them.

"Scourge you have performed most admirably." Said Megatron as he turned to look at Scourge.

Scourge relax at hearing that because it meant that now he was most likely to be spared punishment for his delayed return. But he was puzzled by what Megatron had said, he said that they had captured the boy, and if that was the case. He was on the ship, so why couldn't he smell him then?

Why Scourge thought about it Megatron and the others began walking back towards the entrance to the nemesis. All the while Megatron chuckled at his new trophy.

'Oh Optimus, if you could only see what your precious human has brought me.' Thought Megatron as he walked into the nemesis.

(authors note)

And done. Wow who could see that coming. So, Scourge is starting to smell something fishy, but doesn't know what to do. Megatron now has the Key to vector sigma so that's bad. Let's hope things some luck heads the autobots way because they will definitely need it. What's Megatron going to do with the key, who know?

I will try and have another chapter up soon, but as always I can't promise when, only that it will go up.

Until next time this is the forgotten soldier 343 signing off.


	11. Chapter 11

(Authors notes)

Hello everyone, so here is another chapter. I'm surprised at how fast I got this one done, so let's hope this keeps going. Thank you to those who reviewed and left comments. Also, welcome to those who are now fallowing this story. I do hope you guys are enjoying it.

Now without further a due, let's begin.

(Autobot temporary base)

The autobots had been back for a few hours and had been busy. Ratchet had finally taken apart the ground bridge, with the parts now being loaded into Ultra Magnus's ship. All the energon had been counted and placed in the large aircraft that was going to be taking them to their new base, as well as anything worth taking was also being loaded. Now all that was left was for the autobots to load up into the aircraft itself and fly over to the new base.

"Autobots, are we ready to depart?" asked Optimus as he looked over every member who all nodded.

"Very well. Special agent Fowler we are ready to depart." He then said as he turned to look at Fowler.

"Alright Prime. Now, the carrier is to large to land in the area of the new base so we will be parachuting you guys into a clearing just south of it. Once we drop you guys off, I'll get my chopper as soon as we are state side and fly back to help any way I can." Stated Fowler with Optimus nodding.

"Sir if it's all right with you, I would like to take my ship now and try and get there early so I can unload the parts to the ground before your arrival." Said Ultra Magnus as he was to take his ship to the new base.

"Very well old friend." Responded Optimus with a nod and Ultra Magnus began walking towards his ship.

"Well, let's hit the road." piped in Bulkhead as he was excited.

Everyone then began walking out of the base and saw a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy on the run way with troops loading up the last of there supplies. As they reached the back of the plane Fowler turned around and looked at Optimus.

"Okay prime. I need you and your team in vehicle mode so my boys can put chutes on you for when we reach the drop off point." He said as troops walked up behind him carrying parachutes for vehicles.

Optimus nodded and looked to his team and nodded again. Everyone then transformed into their vehicle modes without saying a word and let the troops attach the parachutes to them. Once the parachutes were on one by one the autobots were loaded in. As they were loaded in they were strapped down so that they would not move around once in the air. Raf, Miko and June sat on the bench and strapped themselves in as a few troops did the same.

As fowler finally walked in, the bay ramp began closing, after a few seconds the ramp finally closed and locked itself as the room became silent.

"Alright everyone, the flight is going to take about six hours so I recommend that you all get some rest for when we reach the drop off point. Privates Cole, James and Mark will assist you when we reach the drop zone." Said Fowler as he gestured to the three troops sitting next to Raf, Miko and June.

"I will be assisting the piolet so I will join the rest of you once we get this bird state side." He then added and began walking to the set of stairs that lead to the cockpit.

After a few minutes the plane roared to life which startled Raf, Miko and June slightly. The plane then began thrust forward and everyone held on as the plane gathered momentum. As the plane reached the end of the runway it suddenly began to lift up and ascend into the sky.

About two minutes passed before the plane leveled out and stopped shacking, much to Miko's relief as she felt like she was going to be sick. Seconds later the plane's PA came on catching everyone's attention.

"Alright everyone, we are going to be about six hours so get some shut eye." Said agent Fowler as he disconnected the PA seconds later.

The of the troops out a pair of earplug and put them in while the thirst just adjusted his helmet to cover his eyes as he leaned his head back against the wall.

Raf, Miko and June decided to take Fowler's advice and got a little more comfortable as they too closed their eyes and get some sleep. The autobots decide to get some rest too and slowly one by one they entered recharge.

Optimus was the last to fall into recharge as he prepared for a long flight.

(two hours later)

Everyone was fast asleep on the plane as it continued to it's destination. As the plane flew towards the drop point Optimus felt himself coming back online, but when he powered online he didn't find himself on the plane or even in his vehicle mode. He was standing in his robot mode in what seemed like an endless void with some smoke covering the ground, and a pitch-black sky.

'What is this place, and how did I come to be here?' wondered Optimus.

He began to look around to see if there was something else in this strange place. As he looked to his right he suddenly saw a light flash in the distance, and began walking towards where the light had been. He walked for about a minute before the light flashed again, this time much closer. He was shocked though when he saw something small walking towards him though.

'Who could this be?' he wondered as he began to approached the figure.

Soon the figure began to show features, he had Black hair and blue eyes. He wore a grey long sleeve shirt and blue jeans. Optimus stopped immediately as he recognized who it was.

"Jackson!" said Optimus shocked.

As the figure fully appeared it was indeed Jack but he appeared different. His eyes seemed to hold no emotion and his skin was ghostly pale. His clothes looked worn and slightly dirty, and he appeared to have lost weight.

He stopped a short distance from Optimus and looked up at him. Optimus could tell something was not right with him.

"Jackson what is wrong?" he asked worryingly as he took in his condition.

Jack just gestured for Optimus to fallow him and turned around and began walking away into the void.

"Jackson wait!" called Optimus as he began running after jack, but shockingly couldn't catch up. Jack disappeared into the void and Optimus just kept running in the direction Jack had left. He soon saw another flash of light which continued to glow afterwards. He ran towards the light and saw Jack standing below the light.

As Optimus looked at the light he saw that it was the Key to Vector Sigma. As he stopped running and began walking towards the key, Jack looked at Optimus and pointed to the key. Optimus looked at the key again and saw the smoke rising behind it. It slowly grew and began to resemble someone he knew. He soon saw the smoke form Megatron as he held the Key and laughed evilly.

"No" said Optimus as he saw his greatest enemy with such a sacred relic. The smoke then collapsed and Megatron disappeared as his voice faded.

"Jackson what has happened?" he asked worryingly as he looked back down at Jack.

Jack just turned around and pointed at the key once more and Optimus looked back up at the key as the smoke rose from the ground once more. This time into something much bigger, with different feature. As it began to take shape Optimus immediately recognized it as the second predacon 'Scourge'.

Scourge growler threatening over the key, as the light coming from the key made him look all the more sinister. As the predacon reached its full height it let loose a terrifying roar and then lunged at Optimus.

Optimus tense and blinked at the sudden attack and activated his weapons. He was shocked though to only find himself back in his vehicle mode inside of the plane. Optimus immediately deactivated his vehicle weapons as he knew there was no danger.

He soon realised that it was the key as it tried to tell him something. He now understood that the key was in Megatron's possession and that they needed to retrieve it. But what puzzled him was what was with Jackson and why did the predicon appear. It didn't make sense.

"Optimus is everything alright?" asked ratchet who was behind him and had been awoken when Optimus powered up his weapons.

"I am not sure old friend." Respond Optimus after a moment of thought.

"What do you mean?" Ratchet then asked.

"While I was in recharge the matrix of leadership connect to the key of Vector Sigma." Said Optimus as he began to explain what had happened.

"What did the Matrix show you?" Ratchet inquired as he wanted to know what Optimus had seen.

"In the vision I had found Jackson, but he did not seem well. He had gestured for me to follow him and he lead me to the key of Vector Sigma. When I approached the key, it showed me that it was in Megatron's hand." Told Optimus as he began tell Ratchet what he saw.

"Are you saying Megatron has the key Optimus!?" asked Ratchet Shocked.

"Yes old friend. I believe the key was warning me that the key is now in his possession. But that was not all it had revealed to me." Answered Optimus as he also began to explain that there was more.

"What else did it show you?" inquired Ratchet as he wanted to know the rest.

"After Megatron had faded I had asked Jackson what had happened and he pointed to the key once more. When I looked at the key, the second predacon appeared. After that it proceed to attack me and the vision ended." Said Optimus as he finished telling Ratchet what had happened.

"What do you think it mean Optimus?" asked Ratchet.

"I do not know old friend; all I know is that something terrible has happened." Responded Optimus sadly. "And I fear the predacon has something to do with it." He then added.

"What do you think we should do?" asked Ratchet as he was unsure of this all meant. Optimus remained silent for a few moments as he too was unsure of how to handle this.

"For now we shall remain focus on the task at hand, with getting setup at our new home. But once we are ready, we are to begin searching for the nemesis and rescue Jackson." Optimus finally said as he gave Ratchet a response.

"Once I have reassembled the ground bridge I will begin searching for the nemesis, so that you and the others can rescue Jack, Optimus." Said Ratchet as he tried to reassure his old friend.

"Thankyou Ratchet." Replied Optimus as he was thankful for his reassurance in the matter.

'Jackson, please be alright when we find you.' Thought Optimus as he began to pray to Primus that Jack was alright.

(The nemesis)

The nemesis flew through the air as the sun shined behind it. Inside of his lab Shockwave along with Soundwave as he examined the key to Vector Sigma. After Megatron had walked into the ship Megatron had asked him and soundwave to see if they could access the key so that he may learn it secrets. Sadly though for them, they had not been able to do so. Soundwave had tried to use his hacking abilities to see if he could get pass the keys firewalls, but he had yet to even penetrate the first firewall of what would most likely be hundreds. Shockwave had done dozens of scans on the device to see if he could tamper with it but could not after several tries. He had even tried to see if he could extract the information through a cortical psychic patch, but only meet the same results.

The doors to the lab opened and in walked Megatron, along with Starscream.

"Shockwave, have you been able to learn any… secrets that the key may hold?" asked Megatron as he walked up to the scientist who stopped hi work and turned around.

"No lord Megatron. The key proves to be to difficult to extract information from. We sadly are not able to gather any intel from it, with the knowledge and tools currently at our disposal." Replied Shockwave as he looked up at Megatron. Megatron made a noise of disproval and clenched his fists.

"Then what use is the key to us?" Asked Starscream with a sly grin at seeing Shockwave fail.

"There is still one use the key has for us Starscream. That being bait for a trap to use on Optimus and the autobots." Said Megatron as he looked at the key.

"Soundwave." He said as he turned to face Soundwave. "I want you to find a suitable location to setup an ambush using the key." He then added, to which Soundwave just nodded.

"Starscream, when Soundwave finds a location place the key there and take the predicons with you to destroy the autobots." Megatron then ordered as he turned to look at Starscream. Starscream tensed as he became worried about being put in charge of the predicons again.

"M-me master? Surly if Soundwave is finding the location he could lead the predacons there." Starscream said as he tried to weasel out of it. Megatron turned around and looked darkly at Starscream, which caused him to back up slightly.

"At once Master." He then said in order to calm his master from hurting him.

Starscream and Soundwave then walked through doors and out of the bridge as they headed to the flight deck to get the predicons. As they walked through the halls Starscream turned to Soundwave.

"Soundwave" he said as he got Aoundwave's attention. "Could you inform a squadron of my seeker armada to… meet us on the flight deck with the predacons?" he asked which caused Soundwave stopped and turned to him.

"Take the predacons with you to destroy the autobots" he replayed Megatron's order.

"I-I am. I just believe that it would be… tactile to bring a squad with us. To… ensure that we have enough fire power to destroy them, should they prove to much for them." He said as he tried to cover up that he really wanted them there to ensure he could protect himself from the predacons, if they chose to attack him.

Soundwave looked at him silently for a few moments which made Starscream a little worried, he then lit up his visor showing a squadron of seekers heading towards the flight deck, before turning and began walking towards the flight deck. Starscream let out a sign of relief and began walking as well. They soon reached the flight and saw a squadron of seekers and the predacons waiting for them.

(With the autobots)

The autobots were now minutes away from the drop off point and everyone was getting ready to jump. Two of the three troops were giving Raf, Miko and June a run down on how to land safely once the parachutes deployed. The chutes themselves were rigged to deploy the moment they jumped out, as were the autobots to ensure they deployed.

The last soldier undid all the straps holding the autobots they could roll out when they reach the drop off zone. Once done he walked up to the access ramp and pushed a button on the wall causing it to lower and allow the wind to blow into the fuselage. He then walked over to Optimus and began to explain what was to happen.

"We're about to reach the drop zone. Your chutes will automatically deploy once out. You will land south of the base, with your comrades. Once you land proceed to the side of the clearing so that we can deploy your cargo safely" he yelled over the wind to Optimus.

"Understood" replied Optimus as he as well as the other got ready to be pushed out.

One of the troops ran up the stairs to the cockpit to talk to the piolets. After a few seconds, he ran back down and approached the two other troops and Raf, Miko and June.

"One minute tell were over the drop zone get ready." He said as he then ran to tell the bots the same thing.

As they waited Raf looked out the back and became nervous as he had never doe this before. Miko saw this and punched his shoulder lightly.

"Keep it together dude. It's not every day we get to jump from a plane." She said excitedly. "We'll be fine." She then added.

Raf just looked out the back again and gulped as he prepared himself to jump. June looked no better as she clearly had sweat building on her forehead showing she was just as nervous.

Two of the troops walked to ether side of the ramp and watched the panel as they waited for a green light. After a few seconds the light came on and the troops gesture for them to jump.

One by one the autobots drove out, with their parachutes deploying moments later as the began to descend to the clearing below. Once the last Autobot was out Raf, Miko and June walked to the edge of the ramp.

"I don't think I can do this." Said Raf as he tried to back away from the edge. June saw he was scared and grabbed his hand, and got on one knee as she looked at him.

"It's okay Raf. I'm scared too. So lets jump together." She said as she tried to ease the boy's worries. Raf looked out again and her hand and nodded.

"Okay." He said as he got ready to jump.

"On the count of three. One… two… three." She said and both June and Raf jumped out, as their parachutes deployed seconds later and they began to also descend to the ground.

Miko looked back at the troops and gave them a salute and then jump off after Raf and June. The troops then began to run to the back of the plane to get ready to push the Autobots supplies out.

As they lowered to the ground they saw the ground was nothing but grass surrounded by trees, and like the troop had told Optimus the Base's helipad could be seen to the south of them.

With in a minute all of the autobots and humans landed on the ground and some became entangled in their parachute… mainly Miko. Once Raf, Miko and June had their chutes off they ran over to the autobots to undue theirs so they could transform. One by one the autobots transformed and soon everyone was standing in robot mode.

"That was Awesome! Can we do that again!?" asked Miko excitedly.

"I don't think so Miko. My heart can't take things like that." Responded June as she held her chest slightly as Raf nodded. They then turned and saw that the plane was now coming in for a second run to drop off their belongings.

"Autobots." Said Optimus gaining everyone attention. "Proceed to safety." He said he pointed to the edge of the clearing.

Everyone then began to run to the edge of the clearing in order to allow the plane to drop off their belongings. Once at the edge of the clearing they watched as the plane passed by and one by one a crate with their belongings dropped out. When the last one was pushed out the ramp began to close showing that everything had been dropped. Everyone with the exception of Optimus and Ratchet waved to plane as it began to head back to the States.

Soon the plane flew out of sight and everyone began walking towards their belongings. As they reached them they looked in to check and make sure that they weren't damage. Bulkhead and smokescreen found the creates that held what Energon they had, and were glad to see it in tacked. Arcee found the crate with their scanning equipment and like Bulkhead and smokescreen, was glad to see it was okay. Ratchet had reached the one with his temporary medical tools and thank the allspark that they were alright. Bumblebee found the one with Ratchet's other work tools and after a quick glance saw nothing wrong with them. Optimus approach the largest crate which held empty energon cube and inspected them for any damage. The human approached the smaller crates that held human supplies for the new base.

As they finished they all looked up and saw Ultra Magnus begin to land his ship by the edge of the clearing. As they walked towards the ship the platform lowered and Ultra Magnus walked out.

"The landing pad was not large enough to accommodate my ship. So I had to fly around until your arrival." He said as he approached the other. "We will need to make it a priority to expand the pad and the entrance hanger for my ship sir." He then said as he looked up at Optimus. "If we are to ensure that this site remains dark to the enemy." He then added.

"Understood Ultra Magnus. But for now, let focus on getting our equipment and supplies into our new base. Then we must focus on rebuilding the ground bridge and our scanners so we can monitor Decepticon activity." Responded Optimus, to which Ultra Magnus just nodded.

Everyone then grabbed what they could and began to walk to the base, as they would come back for the rest once they dropped what they have off inside the new base.

(With the Decepticons)

Starscream, Soundwave, the predicons and the other decepticons walked out of a ground bridge and found themselves in a forest. The trees were wide apart giving enough room to allow the predicons room to move. The sun was just about to rise as the sky was turning from a dark blue to a bright orange. In front of them was a hole in the side of a rock face. Starscream immediately recognized the shape of the entrance.

"An abandoned Mine!?" he asked Soundwave a little frighten.

Soundwave just turned to look at him and pointed to the mine, before turning around and walking further into the Cave. The seekers and the predicons walked past him as they too walked into the mine. After a few seconds Starscream fallowed a little hesitantly and fallowed Soundwave into the mine. They walked down the mine tunnel until they reached an opening that was very large as it could fit about four time the amount present. Soundwave walked to the center of the opening and place the key on the ground.

"Alright my seekers, we have been tasked by our master to use the key to ambush the Autobots. I want everyone in tactile positions around the mine." Said Starscream as he walked past the seekers who all nodded and began to find positions to hide and ambush the autobot. Starscream then looked to Predaking and Scourge. "That… also include… you two." He said though slightly a little more timid.

Scourge looked at Predaking as waited for him to make a call. Predaking was still for a moment as he growled slightly, which made Starscream very nervous. But Predaking stopped after a few seconds and began to walk towards the entrance and jumped onto a ledge just above it. Scourge growled and went to the back of the cave as he too jumped onto a ledge high up on the wall.

"And remember… no one attack until I give the order." Starscream then said, before he too approached a pile of boulders and hid behind it.

All they had to do now was wait, and see if the Autobots would fall for the trap.

(Autobots new base)

The autobots had finally brought the last of the supplies in and Ratchet had finished putting the Ground bridge back together. He tested it by activating it back at the clearing and having them throw a few stones through to see if they would come through alight, and sure enough they were fine.

Now Ratchet was currently setting up the communication system as everyone moved other items to their intended location for the base. Here reached for one of his tools and began to make adjustments to the systems. After a few minutes, he finished and powered up the systems. As the system booted up it began to scan for Autobot signals. Ratchet was about to turn around and leave when the console began beeping signaling it found something.

Ratchet ran back to the console and deactivated the alarm. He then began typing on the console to see what it had found. When Ratchet finally brought up the scanners findings. When he brought up the file his eyes widen in shock at what it found. He immediately activated his commlink to the other.

"Everyone I need you in the command center now!" he shouted before deactivating it. Within minutes everyone had reached the command center and was asking what had happened.

Optimus stepped forward as everyone quieted down.

"Ratchet, what seemed to be the problem?" Optimus asked as he knew it had to be something dire to get this kind of reaction out of him.

"Optimus the Key to Vector Sigma just popped on Radar." Replied Ratchet who was still in shock.

(Authors notes)

And done. Wow, so Optimus is starting to catch on to what has happened but is still not sure what that is though. Megatron now has a trap set and the autobots might fall into it, so that's not good. thank goodness he can't use the key, yet anyways. We still don't know what's going to happen to Wheeljack as he is still MIA. So, we will have to see what happens there. Next chapter we may be in for an epic battle depending on what course of action the Autobots take so let's hope things go their way.

I will try and get another chapter up in a few days, but as always I can't promise it. All I can promise is that it will come.

I do what your thought on what might happen in the battle so please do share your ideas.

Thank you guys so much for reading and fallowing this story it always lifts my spirits when I see more and more of you are enjoying this, so I can't stress it enough thankyou. i can't wait hear from you guys with next chapter.

Until next time, this is the Forgotten Soldier 343, signing off.


	12. Chapter 12

(Authors notes)

I am on fire, dame. In twenty-four hours, I have the next chapter done, YES.

You guys are in for a good one, and one of my longest ones yet. *BONUS*

You guys are awesome. Some of you left really good ideas as to what should happen, and I hope I delivered on those ideas.

So, without further a due, let's begin.

(Autobot base)

Everyone stood shocked as they just heard Ratchet.

"Ratchet did you just say the key to Vector Sigma." Asked Bulkhead to which Ratchet just nodded.

" _But shouldn't it be with…?"_ asked Bumblebee but stopped when he realised something.

"Jack." finished Arcee who then turned to Optimus. "Optimus if there is even a chance that Jack is there…" she stated as she thought about possible getting her partner back. Optimus lowered his head and became deep in thought.

"It could be a trap too though." Stated Bulkhead as he thought something was up. "I mean why there?" he asked as he pointed to the location the key was coming from, which was located in east Asia.

"They may have moved him there so if we found the Nemesis, we wouldn't find him. So, they kept him off sight." Purposed Smokescreen as he tried to think why the cons would put him there.

"I still do not fallow. What does the relic have to do with the human?" asked Ultra Magnus as he didn't understand how the two were related. Ratchet stepped forward to answer his question.

"Before you and Smokescreen arrived on earth, Optimus intrusted the Key to Jack. When we had the ordeal with Unicron." He stated as Ultra Magnus became shocked that Optimus would intrust such a relic to a human.

"Sir are you sure that was a wise choice?" asked Ultra Magnus as he turned to Optimus.

"Indeed Ultra Magnus. Jackson has proven time and time again to be a trusted ally. After the ordeal with Unicron I had believed Jackson had proven himself worthy of becoming the keys permanent guardian." Responded Optimus, to which Ultra Magnus seemed to think it over for a moment before nodding being satisfied with the answer.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Miko excitedly. Everyone turned to Optimus for an answer to which he lowered his head thought of what course of action they should take. After a few moments of silence, he got a determined look on his face as he looked to Ratchet.

"Ratchet, can you pinpoint Wheeljack's position?" he asked.

"Yes Optimus but why?" answered Ratchet as was completely confused why Optimus would ask him that at this moment.

"If there is a chance Jackson is at this location, we must take it. But we require all members of team Prime if we are to do so. Which means we will also require Wheeljack's aid." Responded Optimus.

Ratchet nodded and walked over to the console and brought up Wheeljack's location.

"He is still located in Scotland, but I can't get a hold of him. He has most likely deactivated his commlink." Said Ratchet as he typed on the console.

Arcee walked over to Optimus and got his attention.

"Optimus let me try and see if I can get Wheeljack to come back. Just give me a few clicks." She asked as Optimus nodded and turned to Ratchet.

"Ratchet could you please activated the ground bridge near Wheeljack's location for Arcee." He asked.

Ratchet gave confused looked but nodded and punched in Wheeljack's coordinates. The ground bridge then activated and a portal appeared down the end of the short tunnel where the ground bridge had been placed.

"I won't be long." Arcee said as she then transformed and drove through the ground bridge. Ratchet then deactivated the ground bridge and turned to Optimus.

"Are you sure we should wait Optimus?" he asked.

"If we are to rescue Jackson we will require everyone Ratchet. I believe Arcee can help in convincing Wheeljack to return to us so that we may depart. Until then I want you to monitor the key's signal, and inform us if anything changes." Said Optimus as he continued to look where the ground bridge had been.

"Yes Optimus." Responded ratchet as he turned to continue monitoring the keys locations.

'May Primus be with you Arcee.' Thought Optimus as he hoped Arcee could convince Wheeljack to return. Because he knew they were going to need everyone for this mission.

(Scotland)

Wheeljack drove along a road as he took note of the scenery around him. Long green grass blew in the wind and move when he drove by at high speed.

As he drove along the road he thought about what had happened back with Ultra Magnus, Bulkhead and Miko. Wheeljack wanted to stay with Bulkhead and Miko, but he couldn't stand being ordered around as he if were some drone.

He was brought out of his thought s though when he heard an engine coming from behind him. He adjusted his mirrors and saw a blue motorcycle come driving up behind him. He immediately identified it as Arcee, as she came up along side him.

"Care to talk about what happened?" purposed Arcee as she continued along side Wheeljack.

"Not much to say." Responded Wheeljack as he pulled ahead.

Arcee increased her speed and got back along side Wheeljack.

"Look I know your upset about being under Ultra Magnus's command. But that's no reason to be going solo." She said as she tried to reason with him.

"Trust me. When your under Shoulder pad's command for megacycles, you'll know it's a good enough reason to go solo." Retorted Wheeljack as he tried to pull ahead again. But Arcee pulled ahead faster and drove in front of him and turned around as she stopped.

"Look if you really want to go solo that's fine, but we need you back at base." She said as Wheeljack stopped.

"They don't need my help." Countered Wheeljack as he then proceeded to drive around Arcee, and continued down the road.

Arcee sighed and turned around to catch up with Wheeljack. She drove down the road and caught up to him.

"You don't understand, Optimus is asking for your help." She stated as she once again pulled up along side him.

"Your right I don't understand, and in all honesty. I'd rather not understand." Replied Wheeljack as he then turned off road and began driving into the fields.

Arcee adjusted her steering and followed after him and soon caught up to him again.

"Why are you so persistent and getting me to come back to base?" asked Wheeljack.

"We think we may have found where the cons may be hiding Jack." She replied, which caused Wheeljack to really slow down.

"Wait really?" he asked as want to confirm what he heard was right.

"Yes and Optimus want's everyone to help in the rescue mission." Responded Arcee as both of them transformed.

Wheeljack seemed to think about what he was just told, before looking to Arcee again.

"Look, I want to help, I really do. But I not taking orders from mister by the books." He said before turning around and began walking.

"You said you promised my partner you would help when we came to rescue him. Now we may have found him and you're going to pull out of that promise!?" asked Arcee as she remember Wheeljack saying he made a promise with jack that if one got out the other would help in their rescue.

This caused Wheeljack to stop in his tracks as he thought about what she just said.

He did promise the kid he would help, and he wasn't a bot to go back on his word. But he really didn't want to be under Ultra Magnus's command. After giving it some thought he sighed and turned around to face Arcee.

"Alright I'll help, but I'm only doing this because I made the kid a promise." He said as he gave in.

"Good, it's about time you became a team player." Joked Arcee.

"In case you didn't know I don't play well…" started Wheeljack but stopped when they both heard jet engines.

They both looked up just in time to see about a dozen cons come down from the sky and transform and land around them.

"With others." Finished Wheeljack as he and Arcee got back to back, as they were surrounded by cons.

"Scrap." Cursed Arcee at their current situation.

"You want to know what I love most about Vehiclecon troops?" asked Wheeljack as an idea formed in his head.

"They're easily distracted." Answered Arcee as the same plan was forming in Arcee's head.

Wheeljack reached down and Arcee lifted her Right foot and rested it in Wheeljack's hand. Wheeljack then using all his strength threw her high into the air. This caused the cons to look up at the sudden action which allowed Wheeljack to blast away at three of them, before the cons opened fired towards him. Arcee came down and landed behind one of the cons before she too began blasting away. Some of the cons turned towards her and also began fire at her. Arcee then began running up to them and delivered a roundhouse kick to the first one's head knocking it out. The second tried to deliver a punch to her head but she dodged and delivered an elbow to hit's head in return, which knocked the con out. The third one tried swing at her but she hit it with a spinning heel kick, and then did the same to the forth.

While she dealt with a few other cons Wheeljack did his own number to the cons as he double punched one and knocked it out. He then ran up the three more and proceed to deliver powerful blows to them and dodge whatever strikes they tried to swing back.

He soon hit the last one and Found himself back to back with Arcee once again.

"You sure you weren't a wrecker?" Joked Wheeljack.

"You sure you don't play well with other?" retorted Arcee Jokingly as well.

Wheeljack gave a slight smile and nodded to Arcee.

(Autobot base)

Everyone was currently waiting in the command center for Arcee to return with Wheeljack. While they waited, Ratchet continued to monitor the key's location for any changes, and so far, nothing had changed.

Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Smokescreen quietly talked to each other as they waited, while Raf and Miko did the same. June was standing next to ratchet as she watched the monitor as well as she prayed that she could finally see her son again, and that he would be alright.

Optimus stood off to the side and watched as everyone waited but looked to his left slightly when Ultra Magnus came walking up to him.

"May I speak with you sir?" asked Ultra Magnus to which Optimus nodded and they walked over to the opposite side of the room.

"What is that has been troubling you?" Optimus asked, to which Ultra Magnus looked down slightly for a moment.

"I fear that my command style may be having a negative effect on unit morale." Answered Ultra Magnus as he looked back up at Optimus.

"Your services are most welcomed old friend. But this is not the elite guard." Said Optimus as he rested his hand on Ultra Magnus's shoulder.

"Things have changed since the war for Cybertron." Replied Ultra magnus as he thought about their home world.

"And we must adapt to that change." Responded Optimus as he turned to look at the rest of the team present. "The members of team prime are not cogs in a machine. They have grown into something greater then an army." He then continued as he then turned to look at Ultra Magnus again. "They have become…" he started but was cut off when the comms system came online.

"Ratchet Requesting Ground Bridge." Came Arcee's voice which got everyone's attention.

Ratchet locked onto her location and activated the ground bridge, as everyone turned to look at it. They soon saw her walk through and saw a smile on her face. They then looked behind her and saw Wheeljack also walking behind her and the ground bridge closed moments later.

"Haha Jackie!" Said Bulkhead excitedly as he ran up to him and pulled him into a bear hug. "What made you come back?" he then asked.

"What can I say." Responded Wheeljack as he cringed slightly at the pressure of the hug. "The femme knows how to talks." He then said as Bulkhead let him go.

Arcee just rolled her eyes and looked over to Optimus and saw him smile and nod to which she returned.

"So what are we waiting for, let's bust some cons." Said Wheeljack as he bumped his fists together.

"Ratchet activate the Ground bridge." Ordered Optimus.

Ratchet nodded and typed in the coordinates to the key. As he prepared the ground bridge everyone else got ready. Wheeljack got the energon whip he had used before, while Ultra Magnus grabbed the forge. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, and Arcee readied their blasters, while Smokescreen checked that the phase shifter worked. When everyone was ready the ground bridge activated and everyone turned to look at Optimus.

"Autobots Transform and Roll out." He ordered as everyone transformed and began driving through the ground bridge.

'Just hang on partner we're coming.' She thought as they went through.

(at the mine)

The autobots rolled through the ground bridge and transformed as they all took up fighting positions. They looked around and saw they were in a forest and that there were no cons in sight.

"Ratchet what direction are we heading?" asked Optimus over the comms as the ground bridge deactivated.

"The key signal should just north of your current position" said Ratchet as he gave Optimus a direction to head, before disconnecting the call.

Everyone began walking north as they checked all direction for anything. After a few minutes of walking they found themselves in front of a cave.

"You think the kid's in there?" asked Wheeljack.

"Only one way to find out." Replied Arcee.

Everyone then began walking into the mine as they readied themselves to possible encounter Decepticons. They quietly made their way down the tunnel until they made it a large opening, which they gathered around the edge on the tunnel.

" _So, what's the plan?"_ Asked Bumblebee.

Optimus gave a hand wave signaling for them to enter as he couldn't see anything that would describe as a threat. Everyone began walking into the opening all the while scanning the area for any threats. As they reached the middle bulkhead stepped on something, and after removing his foot saw it was the key.

"Optimus over here." He said as everyone turned and walked to him and saw the key lying on the ground.

" _What's it just doing on the ground?"_ asked Bumblebee as he was confused to why it was just lying there with no protection.

Optimus frowned as he knew something wasn't right. He was proven right when they all heard a voice.

"ATTACK!" it yelled, and saw Predaking Jump in front of the tunnel, that lead outside. They then saw Scourge jump in front of the tunnel that lead deeper in the cave, and dozens of cons all lining the walls of the caves.

"Ambush!" yelled Ultra Magnus as everyone ran for cover as a hail of blaster fire rained down on them.

Optimus activated his jetpack and flew through the air as he tried to avoid the blaster fire.

Bulkhead and Smokescreen found a pile of rocks and hide behind it as Predaking unleashed a wave of fire at them. Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack ran to an indent in the cave wall to get out of the way of the incoming blaster fire.

Arcee and Bumblebee both kept running and dodging as blaster fire that rained down on them, as well as Scourge's fire.

"There's to many of them!" yelled Smokescreen as he tried to blast some but all he got was a few shots that stung his armour.

Optimus dodged a few blasts and knew they needed to get the enemy in the open or it was a losing fight. He looked around and saw that much of the walls were being held together by pillars of rock and that if those pillars weren't there the rest of the rock would come tumbling down. Seeing a way to force the enemy out into the open he pulled out his blaster and began firing away at the pillars as he flew.

" _Is he crazy! He's going to bring the whole cave down on us!"_ said Bumblebee as he watched Optimus continue to destroy the pillars.

"Looks like it Bee." Commented Arcee as she tried to return blaster fire to some of the cons.

As Optimus made a final pass, as the pillars began to crumble, but the ceiling didn't fall. Instead boulders began to tumble along the edge on the walls, frightening the cons. Many jumped down to the floor below while a few were crushed by the tumbling debris. As the last of the debris settled Bumblebee and Arcee watched as Starscream landed face first into the ground, all the while screaming in a high-pitched voice.

"Starscream!?" said Arcee Shocked before her eyes narrowed into a dark glare. "You're behind this aren't you!" she then said.

Starscream got up and looked at Arcee and Bumblebee and grinned evilly.

"Yes… Well… it was very devious of me wasn't it." Said Starscream as he tried to act as if this was his plan.

Arcee extended her wrist blades and began charging at him. As she grew near she jumped up in the air and did a flip a she brought down blades. Starscream shockingly dodge strike and activated his blaster and shot her sending her flying across the ground, before skidding to a stop. Arcee shock her head got back up as she readied herself for another round.

"Where is my partner!?" she demanded as she charged once more.

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know?" Mocked Starscream as he extended his clawed servos with the intention of cutting her to scrap.

Optimus saw Arcee engage Starscream and aimed his blaster as he tried to fire at the seeker. But before he could shoot, his blaster was knocked away by blaster fire. He looked to where the shoots had come from and saw Soundwave in his vehicle mode. Optimus narrowed his eyes and took off after Soundwave as He began chasing him around the cave, all the while shooting at him.

Bulkhead, Smokescreen, Ultra Magnus, and Bumblebee started to engage the decepticons in hand to hand combat as the battle grounds started to turn into a brawl.

Ultra Magnus took the forge off of his back and swung it like a bat sending one of the cons sailing through the air. He then took then looked to his right just in time to see a talon come at him before he sent flying into the wall. He crashed into the side of the wall and groaned at the sudden pain in his back and open his eyes to see it was Predaking that had hit. He pushed himself out of the wall and readied himself for another bout with the predicon.

As he faced Predaking Bumblebee and Smokescreen tried to deal with Scourge as they blasted away at him. Scourge roared in pain and swung his tail which hit Bumblebee and sent him tumbling into a pile of rocks. Scourge prepared to finish him off as be brought fire form his gullet to his mouth and prepared to launch it at the down scout. Before he could do that though he was hit with multiple energon blast to the side of his head which sent the blast of in a different direction frying a random con. Scourge looked to his left and saw Smokescreen with his blaster out. Smokescreen launched a few more shoots before Scourge charged at him with the intent of biting him in half. Smokescreen kept firing at him until the last second in which he activated the Phase shifter and jumped into the floor. Scourge was shocked by this and smacked his head on the ground where Smokescreen had once been. Scourge pulled his head out of the ground and shock his head to get his bearings back.

'Where did he go!' wondered Scourge as he was in complete shock of what just happened.

As he scanned the area all he could see was the battle unfolding around him, but no sign of Smokescreen. As he neared the edge of the wall he suddenly was hit in the back of the head and soon found smokescreen clinging on to the back of his head.

"Gotcha!" said Smokescreen triumphantly, but immediately regretted his decision when Scourge began shacking his head wildly in an attempt to get him off.

While Smokescreen held on for dear life Bulkhead kept swatting cons away with his Maced hands. But was finding himself being overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. Seeing he needed to get some breathing room he transformed into his alt mode and tried to drive through them. Before he was able to do so though they were knocked away when Predaking came flying across the room and landing straight into them. Bulkhead transformed back into robot mode and looked over to see Ultra Magnus holding the forge at the ready. He then saw Predaking get up and roar at him before charge at him once more. Ultra Magnus tried to swing the forge at Predaking but Predaking caught the business end in his mouth, before swinging his head and sending Ultra Magnus flying across the room. Bulkhead looked back to the cons that were down and saw some of them were getting back up, which caused him to groan as he knew the battle was far from over.

As Bulkhead reengaged the cons Optimus chased after Soundwave. He had stopped blasting as he couldn't risk bringing the rest of the cave down. As he closed in brought out his arm blaster and aimed a precise shot which struck the back of Soundwave's rotor, sending him chasing towards the ground. Optimus descended to the ground and landed a short distance away from Soundwave. Soundwave transformed and pushed himself up off the ground and prepared himself to fight the prime.

"Stand down Soundwave!" order Optimus.

But Soundwave just remained silent and got into his fighting stance. Optimus narrowed his optics and charged at him as he engaged Soundwave. Optimus started off by trying to hit him with a left jab, but soundwave just ducked under the punch. Optimus then tried to hit him with a series of hooks, but again Soundwaves size proved to be an advantage as he easily dodged them, and even returned a few hits. Seeing he had to change his strategy Optimus engaged soundwave again, but this time after throwing a hook, he threw a roundhouse kick as well. Soundwave dodged the hook but was now able to dodge the kick as it sent him skidding along the ground until he came to a stop. Optimus observed him for a moment and noticed he wasn't moving, mean he had knocked him. He looked over and saw Smokescreen and Bumblebee were still Struggling with Scourge, as Scourge swiped Smokescreen away and then tried to fry Bumblebee. Seeing they required aid Optimus began running over to them.

While Optimus went to aid Bumblebee and Smokescreen, bulkhead continued to clobber cons with his mace. But the battle was starting wear on him as he now had scratches and dents all over his body, and was even leaking energon in some places. He slammed his mace down on the nearest con and proceeded to backhand the next. Before the third one could get to him though it was suddenly hit by Starscream as he came flying by, sending both of them into a wall. Bulkhead looked to where the seeker came from and saw Arcee come running up. She too was now covered in dents and scratches from her fight with Starscream, as she stopped along side him.

"Thanks… for the… assist Cee." Said Bulkhead as he sounded like he was out of breath.

"Don't… mention it… Bulk… but we need… to… hurry and… end this battle." Responded Arcee as she too sounded winded.

She looked to her right and saw Ultra Magnus was still Duking it out with Predaking. But looked to be slowing down and was now being swarmed by Predaking's attacks and was now showing signs of damage.

"We should help the commander." Stated Arcee as she then ran to help Ultra Magnus with Predaking.

Bulkhead sighed as looked over to his left and saw Wheeljack finish off a few cons with his energon whip. Wheeljack then looked over to Bulkhead and then to Ultra Magnus and Arcee as they fought Predaking. He then looked back to Bulkhead and nodded and both began running to help deal with the predacon.

Back with Optimus, smokescreen and Bumblebee who were fighting Scourge, things were getting messy. Smokescreen was currently on Scourges back firing away with his blasters, as Bumblebee and Optimus did the same from the ground on ether side of Scourge. Scourge roared in pain as the blaster fire pelted him continuously. Knowing he had to get them to stop firing for a minute so he could breath for a moment, Scourge unfolded his wings and raised them high in the air. Optimus and Bumblebee were confused as to why Scourge was unfolding his wings, and readied themselves for Scourge to take off. But Scourge did something different. Instead he gave one massive flap on his wings causing a huge blaster of air to rocket out towards Optimus and Bumblebee, catching them off guard. The air slammed into them sending them straight into opposite walls, where they crashed with mighty thuds. Scourge then reared his head around again tried to grab Smokescreen. The first time Smokescreen was able to avoid the powerful set of jaws, but sadly the second time wasn't able to. Scourge grabbed his left leg and proceed to swing him around like a ragdoll, before throwing him across the cave and straight towards Bulkhead, Wheeljack and Arcee. Said three looked over and watched as he landed on the ground hard and just in front of them.

"You know I think I've had enough for one day." Joked Smokescreen as he rested his head on the ground.

Arcee looked back to the other side of the cave and Optimus and Bumblebee struggling to get back to their feet as Scourge began to close in and finish them off.

"Help these guys out smoke, I got them." ordered Arcee as she then began running towards Optimus and Bumblebee as Scourge closed in.

Scourge was now in front of Optimus and was one in the process of bring fire from his gullet to his mouth as he prepared to smelt Optimus. Optimus struggled to get to his feet and didn't seemed to notice what Scourge was about to do. However, before Scourge could unleash his deadly attack he was hit with a heel kick by Arcee just to side of the head. Scourge's head tilted slightly and the fire that was unleashed missed Optimus by mere inches. Scourge roared in anger and turned to Arcee as she got ready for Scourge. Scourge gave a terrifying roar as he suddenly charged at Arcee and tried to flatten her with his talons. Arcee rolled out of the way as Scourge's talon struck the ground leaving cracks in the ground showing how powerful the strike would have been. Arcee then opened fire on Scourge tired to hit her with his tail, but she saw it coming and ducked under it.

"You missed." Arcee said as she tried to get in Scourge's head, but was unaware that the tail was now coming back.

She looked to her right just in time to see the tail collide with her face sending her skidding across the ground. Bumblebee saw this and tied to help as he charged at Scourge, while he blasted away at him. As he closed in he tried to jump on Scourge's back so he could land more blaster fire. Scourge however saw this and lifted his front talons in air just as Bumblebee jumped. Bumblebee's optics widen as he landed in Scourge's Talons and was slammed into the ground hard. Scourge then pressed his talons on ether side of Bumblebee, effective pinning him.

Seeing he could now finish one of them off Scourge began to Prepare to finish Bumblebee off as he brought fire from his gullet to his mouth. Bumblebee struggled as he tried desperately to get free, but could not break the iron grip he was in.

Arcee raised her head and Saw Scourge was just moments away from killing Bumblebee. Unknown to the three of them was that Scourge and Bumblebee were now mere feet from the key, which began to softly glow.

"NNNOOO!" yelled Arcee as she desperately reached out in a vain attempt to save Bumblebee.

Just as Scourge was about to unleash his fire Arcee's words hit him and he suddenly felt a terrible pain in the back of his processor. He suddenly started to see images flash before him and sounds and words to fast to make out. Images of the blue femme, and a Black and purple one in a brawl. Images of that organic that seemed to be the carrier of younger one from the earlier vision. Images of a world completely made of metal with nothing but destroyed building, and many more flashed before him.

Scourge pulled himself of Bumblebee and shock his head widely all the while roaring in complete agony as he tried desperately to get the images and sound to cease.

Bumblebee opened his optic and was shocked to the predicon was no longer on him and was roaring in total pain. Not wanting to waste the moment Bumblebee immediately got up and ran over to Arcee.

" _What happened?"_ asked Bumblebee who was confused.

"Not sure." Responded Arcee as she started to push herself off the ground.

Optimus too stood up and was confused at the predacons sudden actions. He was even more confused though when he saw the key to Vector Sigma was glowing brightly.

'Why is the key reacting?' thought Optimus, but force himself to stop and focus on the battle.

Seeing an opportunity to end the conflict with this predacon Optimus jumped up and activated his jet pack as he flew with incredible speed towards Scourge.

Scourge meanwhile had finally backed up into a wall as he was still shacking his head widely in an attempt to make the images stop.

'Make them stop-p-p' thought Scourge as he wanted nothing more then for the visions to end. What he was unaware of though was that Optimus was flying right at him as he reared his right fist back and readied himself to deliver a powerful blow. Just as Optimus reached Scourge, Optimus swung his fist and struck Scourge right in the side of the head. The blow forced Scourge's head hard against the cave wall which cracked against the sheer force of the blow. As Optimus removed his fist Scourge's body slumped down to the ground with his head landing just moments after, revealing he was completely knocked out.

Seeing they now had some time, Optimus turned to see Ultra Magnus, Bulkhead, Wheeljack and Smokescreen were still taking on Predaking as the tried desperately to end this. Arcee and Bumblebee ran up to him and looked down at Scourge how was now out.

"Good one Optimus." said Arcee, before she then turned to look at the others engaging Predaking. "Now just one more to go." He stated as all there then ran to help in defeating Predaking.

Predaking unleashed a wave of fire as he tried to get some breathing room between him and the autobots. He looked over to his right and saw Bulkhead and smokescreen charge at him and, pushed them back with a swipe of his talon. He then looked up and saw Optimus, Arcee and Bumblebee coming at him, as well as Scourge was down.

'Weak' he thought as then swiped at Smokescreen again, as he tried to close in on Predaking. Smokescreen was hit by the talon and sent flying towards where the key laid, before rolling to a stop.

Optimus jumped up in the air and land on the back of Predaking and proceed to land a storm of blaster fire to the back of his head. Predaking roared as a result and shock his whole body in an attempt to get him off. As he shocks he swung his tail which hit Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack which sent them flying straight to the other side of the cave, and in front of Scourge.

As everyone else remained Focused on Predaking Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack pushed themselves up and steadied them selves after them powerful blow. They suddenly heard a groan to their left however and were shocked when they saw Scourge begin to move.

Scourge shock his head as he tried to ease the pain in his head.

What had just happened? He had Bumblebee right where he wanted him and then those visions appeared. Those visions which caused him great pain.

'The Autobots must have done something' he thought as he pushed himself up. As he regained his footing he felt an emotion roll over, and it was one he could clearly understand. Complete and udder fury.

As he snapped open his eyes he saw Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack standing in front of him.

" **YOU!"** he growled as took a step forward which caused Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack to tense.

" **WHAT DID YOU DO!?"** roared Scourge as he then charged at them with incredible speed.

He let out a terrifying roar as swiped at Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack, which sent the two down the tunnel that lead deeper into the mine. Scourge then charged down the tunnel after them as the others still had yet to realise what had happened as they fought Predaking.

Ultra magnus and Wheeljack transformed and drove down the cave as they desperately to get away from Scourge. They soon saw another opening in front of them, and they gave it all the got to try and reach. Scourge saw this and unleashed a wave of fire, which struck the ground right behind and sent them flying into the room. As they crashed through a few pillars they transformed back into their robot modes and pushed themselves up. They then saw Scourge charge right at them and swipe again at them with incredible speed. Wheeljack rolled out of the way of the blow but Ultra Magnus was not so lucky as he was sent crashing through more pillars. Before Wheeljack could do anything, he was sudden grabbed in Scourge's jaws and thrown across the cave. He slammed into the wall and slid down back to the ground. Wheeljack then regained his composure and looked at the predacon coming at him.

"Well then, let's dance." Said Wheeljack as he dodged Scourge's attack and turned to him. Wheeljack then ran up to him and jump to his head as he delivered a blow to the side of Scourge's head, which sent him into the wall. Wheeljack then pulled out his katana's and charged at Scourge as he tried to slice the predacon open. As he jumped into the air Scourge moved out of the way of the attack and slammed his talon into Wheeljack's back. Wheeljack then fell to the floor and was then stepped in by Scourge repeatedly as he slammed his front right talon down on him without mercy.

He was knocked off though when Ultra Magnus slammed the forge into his side sending him straight into a pile of rock which he bounced over. Scourge got up and then charged at Ultra Magnus as he prepared to bite his head off. Ultra Manus swung the hammer and sent Scourge stumbling down the room. Before Scourge could do anything, Ultra Magnus was on him and landed another powerful blow with the forge, which caused Scourge to go crashing into a wall.

" **I'M GOING TO TEAR YOU APART!"** Scourge roared with pure hatred and charged at Ultra Manus once Again.

While this was going on the rest of the autobots continued to try and deal with Predaking. Predaking smacked his tail into Optimus who was currently in the air above him as he unleashing a wave of blaster fire the blow sent him straight into the ground where he landed with a mighty thud. Smokescreen charged at Predaking as he fired at Predaking's face. Predaking roared in pain and unleashed another wave of fire. Smokescreen's eyes widen as the fire closed in and he seemed to disappear as he was engulfed by the flames. Predaking looked at where Smokescreen once was but suddenly felt something tap his talon. He looked down and saw smokescreen poking through the ground as he waved to him.

"Missed" he said as he dropped back down into the ground just in time to missed being stepped on. He then appeared to Predaking's left as his head popped up.

"Missed me again." He teased as he then ducked back under ground as Predaking tried to once again step on him.

"To slow." Teased Smokescreen as he then popped up by Predaking's back left. Predaking tried to step on him again but smokescreen just ducked back underground.

Predaking roared in frustration as he hilariously continued to try and step on Smokescreen whenever he popped his head up, like a game of whack a mole. As Smokescreen distracted Predaking the other regrouped and tried to find a way to find a way to bring the beast down.

" _Optimus look."_ Said Bumblebee as he pointed to the wall as they saw some of the pillars had not been destroyed. Seeing what Bumblebee was getting at everyone nodded and prepared to take the predicon down.

Smokescreen popped his head up by Predaking's right and dropped back down moments later to avoid Predaking's talon. Predaking roared in anger as he continued to be humiliated by Smokescreen. That changed though when an idea formed in his head as he suddenly raised his front talons high in the air, before slamming them down into the ground. The ground cracked and a piece of the ground slammed upwards, which caused smokescreen to come tumbling out, and land in front of Predaking.

"UH! No hard feelings, right?" asked Smokescreen, but all Predaking did was prepare to finish him off by bringing fire to his mouth. Just before Predaking could destroy Smokescreen though Arcee came from the side and tackled him out of the way.

As the two finished tumbled out of the way Arcee looked back to the others.

"NOW!" she shouted as everyone opened fire at the pillars, and Smokescreen joined in seconds later.

Predaking was confused as to what they were doing and turned back just in time to see the pillars break, and see boulders come tumbling down. Predaking was only able to roar in shock as the rubble landed on him, burying him. As the dust finally settled they saw Predaking on the ground and not moving. As they looked closer they could see he was now knocked out and that he was most likely not going to be getting up for a while.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Until bumblebee turned around and his optics widen in shock.

" _Uh Optimus, I got some bad news."_ Said Bumblebee as he pointed to the other side of the room. Everyone turned around and were shocked to see nether Ultra Magnus or Wheeljack were present. The shock quickly turned to worry though as they also saw Scourge was no longer on the ground where they left him.

Everyone turned to Optimus and looked at him as he just had a look of worry on his face.

Back with Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack, they were currently in a fight for survival. Currently Wheeljack was in Scourge's mouth as he slammed Wheeljack into the ground repeatedly. Just as Scourge was about to finally finish Wheeljack off, Ultra Magnus ran up and kicked Scourge to the side. Scourge got up and shock his head before charging at them once more.

Surprisingly though both Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus Charged at him also. Wheeljack then took his katanas from his back and threw the at Scourge. Scourge saw this and jumped over them to avoid them, but as he came down he saw that Wheeljack had attached his energon wipe to Ultra Magnus's forge and clotheslined him as a result. As Scourge tumbled to a stop, both Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack nodded to each other and began to charge at Scourge. Scourge pushed himself off the ground and began to charge at them as he prepared to bite them. Wheeljack though jumped on the forge and ultra magnus launched over Scourge as Wheeljack wrapped the energon whip around his neck. Scourge fought to break the whips hold on his neck was eventually able to do so, but was immediately hit by Wheeljack which sent him backwards. Ultra Magnus took advantage of the opportunity and slammed the forge into the side of Scourge's head. Scourge then stumbled back over to Wheeljack and he landed a series of punches before knocking him back to Ultra Manus. Ultra Magnus then swung the hammer which sent Scourge in to a pillar and debris from the ceiling began to come crashing down on him.

Wheeljack looked up and saw stalactite hanging from the ceiling and began opening fire. Ultra Magnus saw what he was going for and also began opening fire on it until it came down and right on top of Scourge. They both deactivated their blasters as they thought it was over but were shocked when the rubble sudden exploded and huge rock crashed into them.

As Ultra Magnus landed he saw that one of them hand knocked Wheeljack out as who was now resting against the wall. As he looked forward he saw the forge in front of him and began crawling for it. Before he could reach it though he suddenly found his hand in Scourge's mouth.

Ultra Magnus the looked up just in time to watch as Scourge proceeded to 'BITE' off his hand. Ultra Magnus howled in pain as energon began to spill out of the wound.

Scourge then looked down at the forge and grabbed it in his mouth. As Scourge grabbed the forge Ultra Magnus looked over to Wheeljack who just woke up.

"And here I was just beginning to tolerate ya." Said Wheeljack as he coughed slightly.

"It's been an honour serving beside you soldier." Responded Ultra Magnus, to which Wheeljack nodded.

Ultra magnus then looked up just in time to see Scourge bite the forge in half as his powerful jaws broke. Ultra Magnus looked down in defeat as he waited for the predicon to finish him.

" **Prepare to perish."** Told Scourge as he began to bring fire from his gullet to his mouth.

Before he was able to do so though he was suddenly slammed against the wall as Optimus came flying in. Optimus then proceeded to pull out his blaster and fire all around scourge which caused debris to land on him. As Scourge knocked the debris off of him, his eyes widen as he saw Optimus take off with Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus.

" **NNNOOO!"** roared Scourge as he then chased after them.

As Optimus exited the cave with Ultra magnus and Wheeljack he saw the other standing by the ground bridge waving for him to hurry. He then looked behind him just in time to see Scourge come running out of the cave after them. He turned his attention forwards as he watched the others run through the ground bridge and began to push his jetpack to the limit. As he passed through the ground bridge, it closed behind him leaving an enraged Scourge to roar to the heavens.

(Autobot Base)

Ratchet deactivated the ground bridge as Optimus passed threw, and turned around just in time to see him come skidding to a halt while holding Ultra Magnus and Wheeljack.

"What in the name of the Allspark happened out there?" Ratchet asked as he looked over the rest of the team and thought they looked like they had been through the whole war for Cybertron 'again'.

"The whole thing" started Bulkhead who then collapsed onto his back as his legs gave out. "Was a trap Ratchet." He then finished as he closed his optics.

Ratchet seemed shocked that even if it were a trap, would leave them in such disrepair.

"Everyone head down to the medical wing." Said ratchet as he walked over to Optimus and helped him carry Ultra Magnus, as Bulkhead got up and carried Wheeljack.

No said a word as they stumbled to the medical wing. This had just been to long of a day.

(Author's notes)

And done. WOW, I can't believe how fast I got that one done. So instead of Predaking removing Ultra Magnus's hand it was Scourge so that's not going to be good down the line. The team is pretty much scrap after escaping that ordeal. And Scourge now hates the bots with a passion so that's not good.

I will try and get another chapter up in a few days but as always, I can't promise when it will come out.

Until next time, this is the forgotten soldier 343 signing off.


	13. Chapter 13

(authors notes)

Well the next chapter is done. I know its not as long as some of the other but I was also correcting the errors of previous chapters. I will be probable updating them at the same time as this chapter is posted, and if not then is will be updated just afterwards.

Thank you to those who have reviewed and those who are now following this story.

Now without further a due lets begin.

(the mine)

Scourge breathed heavily as he slowly let the anger coursing inside of him subside.

'Why is this happening to me?' he wondered as he slowed his spark rate. 'they have something to do with this, they must. All the images seem to be about them.' He then thought as looked to where the autobots had fled.

'But why? And what does it have to do with them?' he then wondered as he turned around and began walking towards the entrance of the mine.

Once he got back into the cave he saw that others were coming back online as well. He then heard a growl and turn to see Predaking starting to wake up. He shook his head as he tried to relieve some of the pain he was feeling a boulder had hit it. As he the pain finally subsided, looked over and saw Scourge and began to approach him.

" **Where is the enemy?"** he asked as he stopped right in front of him.

" **They escaped before they could be finished off."** Scourge replied.

A groan caught their attention however, as to their right they saw Starscream begin stand up after pushing a Decepticon off of him.

'Really! That one had to survive!?' thought Scourge as he hoped that Starscream had perished during the battle.

Apparently Predaking had the same thought as he too growled at seeing the seeker survive. As they looked around the cave they saw some of the seekers getting up, while others did not.

Starscream eventually got to his feet and looked around, and saw that some of the troops what remained of his forces. As he looked around he saw Soundwave also regaining consciousness and beginning to stand up. Starscream then took note that only two thirds of the forces he brought with him were getting up, meaning he had lost a few seekers.

'OH NO! Megatron isn't going to be happy about this!' thought a scared Starscream as he knew Megatron wasn't going to be taking this failure lightly. He was brought out of his thoughts though when Soundwave approached him.

"uuhhh… send the most injured back to the warship, and have a few remain to find the key." Ordered Starscream after some thought, to which Soundwave nodded and activated a ground bridge.

Many of the troops began walking through the ground bridge while others stayed to help collect what remained of others and to locate the key.

Scourge looked back to the tunnel that lead outside and to where the autobots fled and gave one last growl before following Predaking through the ground bridge, which closed behind them.

(Autobot base)

Ratchet was running around the med bay as he tended to the other injuries. He had sealed Bulkheads energon leak which was a cracked line under his chest plant. Bumblebee, Arcee and Smokescreen only had minor injuries so he would tend to them later. He looked at Optimus and found only his armour had suffered damage which could be fixed. Wheeljack was a different story though as he had broken the pistons in his left arm which would take time to heal.

But right now, he was currently working on Ultra Magnus who was by far in the worst condition. He had suffered a fair bit of damage to his armour, but the most notable thing was that he had lost his right hand.

Ratchet reached for his surgical welder and began to weld the wound where his hand use to be shut. Everyone stood around and watched as Ratchet worked on Ultra Magnus.

Bulkhead looked to his right and saw Wheeljack coming back online and approached him.

"You okay Jackie?" he asked.

"I've been better not going to lie." Responded Wheeljack as he sat up and looked over as he saw Ratchet was working on Ultra Magnus.

Optimus got off the berth he was placed and went to stand on the opposite side of Ultra Magnus as ratchet continued to seal the wound. A few minutes went by and Ratchet began to finish sealing the wound. Everyone looked over when they heard a groan and saw Ultra Magnus begin come back online. When Ultra Magnus opened his eyes, he looked to his left and saw Optimus standing next to him. He then looked to his right and saw ratchet just finishing sealing the wound. Ultra Magnus then looked down at the stub where his hand use to be and felt sadness wash over him.

"Aaaahhh" he said sadly.

"Ratchet will take good care of you" told Optimus as he tried to reassure his old friend that everything would be okay.

"Magnus fought like a wrecker." Stated Wheeljack as he looked to the commander. Ultra Magnus looked over to Wheeljack for a moment before looking back to Optimus.

"Optimus… when we spoke earlier. What could be greater then an army?" he asked.

"A human concept. One I have learned since coming to earth." Started Optimus as he looked to the rest of the team. "Family" he then answered as the rest of the team approached the injured commander. Even Wheeljack with the support of Bulkhead walked over to stand by Ultra Magnus.

Ultra magnus was surprised by Optimus's response. 'How could family be more powerful than an army' he wondered. But he was also surprised that Wheeljack came over to help give him support. This was something he was going to have to think about.

Everyone was then brought out of their thoughts when they heard Ratchet.

"Optimus." He said which gained their leaders attention. "Did you by chance at least manage to grab the key during the conflict?" he asked, as he hoped that all this was not for nothing.

"No Ratchet. We were focused on the battle, so I fear that the key is still in Decepticon hands." Optimus answered Sadly.

"Well" said Smokescreen as he gained everyone's attention. "That not quite true." He then said as he pulled the key out of his subspace, hold it for everyone to see, as everyone just stood there shocked.

"But… How?" asked Arcee, as everyone wondered how he grabbed it.

"When we were fighting the first predacon, and it knocked me away from the battle." He began to explain what happened. "I landed next to the key. So, as you guys continued to fight it, and grabbed it and threw in my sub space. That way no matter how the battle ended we would still have it." He said as he finished as everyone was still in shock.

"Well done soldier." Said Ultra Magnus weakly, as couldn't help but complement Smokescreen for his actions, as he had done well.

Optimus then walked forward to Smokescreen and held out his hand.

"Smokescreen, would you please hand me the key?" he asked, with smokescreen nodding before dropping the key in Optimus's hand.

The moment the key landed in Optimus's hand it began to glow brightly showing it now knew it was in the hand of a prime.

"So what do we do now?" asked Bulkhead.

"For now we will recover from our injures, as we are in no condition to go back out into the field." Responded Optimus with everyone else nodded as they felt like scrap.

"Everyone should go and get some recharge. I will do another check on your injuries in the morning." Said Ratchet to everyone before turning to Ultra Magnus "Accept for you Ultra Magnus. I still need to check on the rest of your injures and keep you in the medical ward for the night." He then added to which the commander just nodded before closing his eyes.

"Ratchet is correct. We have all had a long day, and require rest." Said Optimus as everyone nodded and turned to walk to their quarters.

"That includes you two." Said June to Raf and Miko, "We need to get some rest so we can finish unpacking tomorrow." She then added as she lead the children towards their own rooms for the night.

(the Nemesis)

Starscream was currently standing on the flight deck of the Nemesis with a seeker in front of him.

"What do you mean it wasn't there!?" questioned Starscream Angrily.

"It is as I said commander. The key was not in the mine." Responded a seeker who had stayed behind to help clean up and look for it.

"Oh this is not good. Megatron is going to have my spark for this." Said Starscream as he thought out loud.

He couldn't lie about it as he would no doubt find out, by ether Soundwave or some random troop. Before he could ponder any more on this his com link activated.

"Starscream. Come to the bridge immediately." Ordered Megatron who then cut off the comms before Starscream could even reply.

Starscream tensed as he knew he had to face Megatron and explain this development to him. With much hesitation, he walked into the nemesis and began walking towards the bridge. After making his way through the maze of halls he entered the bridge and began to walk to Megatron.

"You… wanted to… see me master." Said Starscream in a timid voice.

"Indeed Starscream." Responded Megatron as he turned around to face him. "I have just been notified that an entire squadron of my forces are ether offline or are in need of repairs. So do tell me… WHAT IN THE NAME OF UNICRON HAPPENED!?" he then demanded Megatron furiously, which caused Starscream to squeak and take a step back.

"I had… brought a squadron with me to aid in fighting… the autobots with the ambush… master." Replied Starscream honestly as he saw it may be his only way out of this one.

"I had ordered you to use the predacons! Not the troops!" stated Megatron darkly as stared down at Starscream.

"And I did… master. I had brought them with me… But I also brought the squadron encase the autobots proved to be to much for them." Starscream replied as he held up his hands in a defensive manner, as he feared what Megatron might do next.

Before Megatron could do or say anything Soundwave walked forward and showed him footage of the battle and showing that it would of most likely proven to much for the predacons. Megatron growled but stood tall and turned around to look out the front of the nemesis.

"Very well." He responded though somewhat darkly.

Starscream let out a sigh of relief and turned around to begin walking out of the bridge.

"And Starscream." Said Megatron, which caused to Starscream to stop and turn back around to face Megatron.

"Give me the key." He Ordered as he held out his hand as he waited for Starscream to give it to him.

"ahh… about that." Started Starscream as Megatron turned back around to face him. "We sort of..." he then continued as he tapped his fingers together. "Lost it" he finished as he shrunk at how Megatron's face change to that of one od utter fury.

"YOU WHAT!?" he yelled lowered his head to be at Starscream's, as his left eye twitched slightly showing he was moments from going insane.

Starscream felt fear come over him as he knew Megatron was moments away from being torn apart by Megatron. Megatron roared in anger and grabbed a rear by seeker and slammed him into the ground repeatedly. After slamming the help decepticon into nothing but scrap he threw him as hard as he could against the wall which dented due to the force.

"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!... NOW!" he roared to which Starscream wasted no time in running out of the bridge.

(On the flight deck)

Predaking and Scourge laid on the flight deck as they recovered from their battle with the autobots. Predaking was currently in recharge, but Scourge was wide wake. As he watched the alpha rest his thoughts turned to what happened back in the cave.

He had the scout right where he wanted him, yet moments before he could finish him, the autobots gave him those awful visions. But it still didn't make sense, as to how they did it.

'Did they use some kind of special weapon? No none of them seemed to wield any kind weapon that could fit in with what happened. Did they use some kind of chemical weapon perhaps? No that couldn't be it. None of the others had suffered the same thing so that couldn't be it. So, what caused the visions then?' he thought.

Scourge got up and walked over to the edge of the flight deck and looked at the clouds floating below them. Letting out a sigh Scourge laid back down as he continued to stare over the edge, and think about what happened.

Let's see, when did it start? It started when he first saw that wrecker back at Darkmount, when he saw him hanging from stasis cuff. But why? He had never seen the autobots until that battle, so why did that image appear? Then the femme said those words. But why did she say those words? They were enemies so why did she sound worried for his well being? He knew the words were directed to him, it sounded like they were and she was looking at him when it happened, so why? Next he heard the words of the prime out in the artic. He knew it was his voice as he heard in the battle back at the cave. But why was did he hear his voice in the artic? And why did he say that? Then there was what happened when he was at that organic settlement. That boy seemed strange to him, and he seemed to feel something come from him. But what, and why? And now he had those visions in that battle. Again, that femme showed up in them, but why? He also saw a world completely made of metal, which he knew was Cybertron, from the other troops descriptions of it. There was also the voices that came with those visions. He couldn't make much of them, but he thought he heard one word clear.

"Jack." Wasn't that the name the organic used? And if so what does it have to do with him?

Scourge continued to look over the edge as he wondered more about this strange organic.

'Megatron said that they captured it, which means it should be on this ship.' He thought. 'If I could find it, then it may be able to end these hallucinations.' He then pondered. 'but how am I suppose to find it?' he wondered.

Scourge couldn't think of anything that could help him in finding out so he decided now would be a good time to get some recharge. Moving slightly away from the ledge so he wouldn't fall off, Scourge laid back down and closed his eyes as he tried to get some rest.

(authors notes)

And done. So ya, Scourge is catching wind of something isn't right. The autobots a least grabbed the key… well Smokescreen did anyway. And Starscream is about two nanoclicks away from being scrapped.

I will try and have another chapter up in a few days, and if you have any ideas do leave a review.

Until next time this is the forgotten soldier 343 signing off.


	14. Chapter 14

(Authors notes)

Hey everyone sorry for the long wait. I was suffering a case of writers blocks on one section and I couldn't get it right, so I had to wait until I finally got it. And I did, so now here it is.

Now before we begin I want to address a few comments in the reviews. The first is to Rex Vong Thrawn who has asked if I could have Scourge shout Terrorize when he transforms, and to answer that I'm going to try and do it when he first transforms. But I'm not sure if I will have him say it all the time, and we still have a long way to go before I get to that. The second one is that Divine Dragon Emperor wanted to know how Jack has CNA in him and to answer that I will get to that, and hopefully soon.

Now that I have address those, without further a due. Let's begin.

(Autobot Base)

Everyone had just turned in for the night, and had gone to their quarters for the night. In one of the quarters, Optimus sat on his berth as he studied the key to Vector Sigma. The key shined slightly as he continued to look at it. As he continued to studied it, his thoughts wondered to that of what happened in the mine. Right in the middle of the battle, the key had acted strangely. When Scourge was just about to finish bumblebee, the key began to react, which lead to the predacon acting out in pain.

But why? The key had never done that before. Had the key responded to save Bumblebee, from the predacon? No Bumblebee had no connection to the key, so it couldn't have. So why?

Optimus rest his head on one of his servos as he continued to think about what happened, and after a few minutes of thinking his optics widen slightly as he realised something.

The key did not respond to bumblebee, it had responded to Scourge's presence. Optimus also recalled when the key showed him the predacon when he had that vision with Jack, which only added support to his theory. But how? The key should only react to those who are ether a prime, or have been chosen by one, and the predacon should be neither. But that is what happened. The key responded to the predacon's presence, and with it lead to Scourge's reaction.

Optimus let out a sigh as he closed his optics and continued to ponder on this information. Something was wrong, very wrong. But how was he to find out why, and how?

After about a minute of thinking, Optimus opened his optics as an idea came to him.

The key had shown him that it was in Megatron's possession. Maybe it could also show him why key reacted to the predacon, and maybe he could also find out where to find Jack.

Seeing what he needed to do Optimus closed his optics again and began to focus on the key. As he focused on it, the key began to shine and Optimus began to feel himself being pulled into the key. Eventually the key shined so brightly that it blinded the whole room and Optimus felt himself enter the key.

When Optimus opened his optic, he found himself back in the key, with the ground covered in fog and the sky pitch back as it was before. Optimus looked around as he waited. After a few moments, he saw a flash come from behind him and he turned around as he saw Jack begin walking up towards him.

"Show me." Optimus asked as he looked down at Jack, who just gestured for Optimus to follow him.

Optimus began walking as he followed Jack through the void, as looked for the information he desired to know. They walked for a while before Optimus noticed that the scenery was beginning to change. He began to see pillars standing tall around them and that they were walking on an actual ground now. Optimus looked ahead as he saw a flash of light and saw a key floating ahead of him. As he stopped a short distance away, he watched as Jack walked up to the key and looked up at Optimus as he pointed at it.

Optimus focused on the key, as the fog began to float and swirl around them. As he continued to watch he saw the fog beginning to take shape and saw Jack as he hanged from some chains. Jack was then suddenly injected from the side with a long needle, to the neck. He then screamed as electricity began shooting through him as he began twitching.

"Why… are you… doing this?" Jack asked weakly, as he looked over to the side where the needle came from.

Optimus then watched as Shockwave formed beside Jack as he held the needle in his hand.

"Lord Megatron desires for another predacon." Was all Shockwave said before he reloaded the needle and injected it into Jack once more. What Shockwave said confused Optimus though.

'What does Jackson have to do with the second predacon?' he wondered.

The fog then collapsed and began to take on new shapes. Optimus watched as he saw Jack was now floating in a tank, and he appeared to have changed. He was now bigger, being about nine feet tall. His neck had grown slightly which disturbed Optimus. The fog then changed again and he saw Jack had changed even further. He was now about fifteen feet tall and had now started to grow a tail and wings. The scene then changed again and now he was thirty feet with his head beginning to reshape it self, as had his legs and arms. The fog the changed again jack was now fifty feet long as his tail and neck grew. He also now had a large pair of wings on his back, and he now started to have scales. Optimus's optics widen as he began to recognized the features, he then looked down at Jack who turned to look at him. Before Optimus could say anything the fog then began to swirl faster as he looked at where a new shape was forming.

Optimus watched as the shape grew and his optic widen.

"I now present to you my liege, the autobots former human pet." He heard Shockwave say as the shape finally finished taking shape.

Optimus showed a face of peer shock as he saw Scourge standing in front of him looking at him over the key as he did before.

Before anything else could happen, the area began shine brightly and Optimus was forced to shield his optics from the light. When he reopened them he found himself back in his quarters. Optimus then looked down still with a face full of shock, at the key which was currently laying on the floor.

It couldn't be, it simply couldn't. but the more Optimus thought about it, the more he saw it was likely to be true. The key's reaction to the predacon's presence. It appearing in the first vision, and it's behavior.

There was no denying it, Jack was the predacon! But how!? How could he have become it?

Optimus closed his optics as he took in all this new information. He still couldn't bring himself to believe it, but he knew it was futile to refuse what was the truth. His thoughts then turned to what should he do. He couldn't tell the others. They wouldn't believe such information, and if they did it would make fighting the decepticons more difficult as they would most likely not want to fight Scourge. He also knew that he couldn't let this information reach Arcee. If she were to find out, she would most likely put herself in a dangerous situation if it were to bring Jack to them.

But if he said nothing and one of them killed Scourge they would unknowingly kill Jack. Optimus then decided to get up and speak to Ratchet about this.

Leaving his quarters, he began to walk towards the medical in search of Ratchet. After walking to the medical ward, he saw Ratchet standing at the console as he studied Ultra Magnus's vitals. After a few short moments of silence Optimus walked in and began to walk up to Ratchet. It was Clear to Optimus that Ratchet had yet to notice his presence as he just continued to stare at the console.

"Ratchet." Said Optimus as he gained the medic's attention. Ratchet practically jumped as he spun around only to see Optimus standing there. Ratchet relaxed as he let out a sigh of relief.

"Primus Optimus. Don't sneak up on me like that." He stated as he slowed his spark rate.

"Ratchet, I must speak with you old friend." Optimus stated, which made Ratchet look puzzled at him.

"Of… of course." Replied Ratchet. As he stepped away from the console.

"What is it you want speak to me about Optimus?" Ratchet asked as he wanted to know what was going on.

"When I returned to my quarters, I had decided to try and see if the key could reveal anything to me." Started Optimus as he looked down at Ratchet.

"And? Did it reveal anything?" asked Ratchet.

"Indeed… but I was not prepared for what I found find out." Responded Optimus as he closed his optics for a moment.

"What did you find?" asked Ratchet in slight worry.

"The key had shown me… that Jackson." Optimus paused as he collected himself. "That Jack is the second Predacon." Finished Optimus as he closed his optics.

Ratchet's face became of one of peer Shock and horror.

"Optimus… what you are saying…. Is… is… is impossible." Responded Ratchet as he threw his hands up for emphasis, as he tried to deny what Optimus had just told him.

"I wish it were old friend." Responded Optimus. "But the evidence is to great. The keys reaction to the predacons presence, it behaviour that followed, and the fact it appeared in the first vision all point to that Jack is indeed the predacon." He then added.

Ratchet just looked down as he still had a look of shock his face. After a few moments, he then looked up at Optimus.

"What should do? Should we tell the others?" he then asked as his voice and face showed worry.

"I do not know. If we tell the other it would create hesitation on the battlefield. But if we say nothing we run the risk that one of us may kill Jack unknowingly if they fight him." Stated Optimus as he looked at the hall.

Ratchet also glanced at the hall for a moment before they turned to look at each other once more.

"Ratchet. I do not know how to proceed with this new information. What do you think we should do?" asked Optimus as he looked at his oldest friend.

Ratchet looked down at the ground as he pondered for a few moments. When he seemed to come to a conclusion he looked back up at Optimus.

"In all honesty, Optimus, I think it would be wise not to tell the others. What you are saying is still skeptical at best, and until we know for certain that Jack is the predacon. It would be best to not tell the others." He said as he looked at Optimus.

Optimus looked down as he pondered on his words. After a few moments of silence, he closed his optics briefly before opening them and looking at Ratchet.

"I agree old friend." He then said.

Ratchet just nodded before turning around and walking back over to the console.

"I hope Optimus that you are wrong on this… because if you are right. It means we have a much bigger problem." He said as then began working on the console.

"As do I old friend."

(The Nemesis)

Scourge was current laying on the flight deck of the nemesis as it flew through the clouds. Most of the ship had shut down for recharge, but no matter how had he tried, he just couldn't seem too. Finally giving up he got up and walked over to the end of the flight deck and stared up at the night sky.

It seemed like no matter what he tried, his thoughts would only turn back to these visions that he had been having. Scourge looked over the stars as he studied them and take in their natural beauty. As he stared at one set of stars he saw a vision of the blue femme. Scourge immediately closed his eyes and shock his head to try and get the image to disappear.

After a few seconds the image faded and Scourge opened his eyes again as he sighed.

'Another vision, but why?' he thought as he went back to staring at the stars.

He then began to think about what Megatron had said about the 'human' that they captured. If they indeed have it on board, he should have been able to pick up his scent. But there wasn't any on the warship.

Scourge then frowned slightly when he recalled something also from that conversation. Megatron had also said that the scent they were tracking that day was from this boy. But both Scourge and Predaking had the scent coming from them as well. But how? It didn't make sense.

'Somethings not right.' Scourge thought as he continued to think about this.

Is it possible this organic has something to do with these visions he's been experiencing? This could be why, and it may be because of something the human did. Scourge was still not sure, but he was certain that the organic had something to do with this. But how was he to find out? He wasn't on the ship to his knowledge, and he couldn't find his scent so he could track him. So how was he going to find answers if he had not way of tracking him.

Wait that's not true. The ships data base might have something that could lead him in the right direction as to where this boy was hiding. But how was he going to get access? He didn't know the passwords, and he would have to do it when on one was looking. So how could he do it?

Seeing he had no answers to his questions, Scourge sighed and laid back down on the flight deck and just stared back up at the stars once more.

'it may be the only way to find answers' he thought as he finally closed his optics and started to get some recharge.

(Authors notes)

And done. So ya, Optimus and Ratchet now know and Scourge is on his way to finding out. Sorry this one isn't very long but I did want to get this one out since it hasn't been a while. Hopefully the next one will be a bit longer.

I will try and have the next one done in a few days but no promises. The only promise I will make is that it will come out.

Until next time, this is The Forgotten Soldier 343 signing off.


	15. Chapter 15

(Authors Notes)

Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait. I had finals for college this semester to worry about, so I couldn't work on this. But now those are over with. I'm also hitting a wall right now as I am not quite sure where to go with this story. But it will pass and I will get more chapters out.

Thankyou to those who are still fallowing this story and to those who are now joining in.

So without further a due, lets begin.

(Autobot base next day)

Everyone had returned to the medical ward as ratchet wanted to double check everyone's injures, and ensure that they would properly recover. After doing a full examination one each of the bots he gave them the all clear. Now everyone was watching as he tended to Ultra Magnus and checked his vitals.

"He will make a full recovery… with the exception of his missing servo." He said before turning to Optimus. "It will take time for to make a prosthetic hand for him… given what resources I current have." He then added.

"Do all you can old friend." Responded Optimus, though in a softer tone then usual. This caused some confused glances between each other as Optimus rarely spoke in that kind of voice. Only Ratchet wasn't confused as he knew Optimus was still thinking about what he learned last night.

" _Are you okay Optimus?"_ asked Bumblebee.

"I am fine Bumblebee" Optimus lied as he didn't want the others to know what he learned just yet.

"You sure Optimus?" asked Arcee as she stepped forward. "You seem off today." She noted.

"I appreciate your concern Arcee, but rest assured I am fine." Responded Optimus in a more normal tone.

Arcee gave him a questioning look but decided to let it be and walked over to stand with June. Everyone also gave questioning looks to one another but also decided to let it be. Before anyone could say anything else the security sensors went off and everyone ran to the console to know what was happening. Ratchet typed on the console and brought up a video feed just outside of the base over looking the landing pad. Which showed Fowler getting out of his chopper and walking into the base.

"It's just agent Fowler." Said Ratchet as he then began walking back over to Ultra Magnus to continue his work. After a few minutes, they could all hear Fowler from the hall.

"Prime!" shouted Fowler from the hall as he tried to find out where everyone was.

"In here agent Fowler." Responded Optimus, as Fowler then walked into the medical ward.

"What in the Sam Hill…" said Fowler in shock as he took in the bots conditions. "Prime! What the blast happened out there!?" he then demanded. "I'm gone for one day and already you guys are in disrepair." He then stated.

"During your absence agent Fowler, we discovered the location where the decepticons were hiding the key to Vector Sigma. Upon trying to retrieve it, we were ambushed." Responded Optimus as he filled in Fowler. Fowler just shock his head as he took in what he heard.

"Well did you at least retrieve the key?" Fowler asked as he wanted to know if they at least got something out all this.

"Indeed." Was all Optimus said.

"Well I suppose that is good news." Said Fowler as he thought out loud.

Optimus then looked over at Ratchet as he watched him look after Ultra Magnus.

" _Hey guys do you notice that Optimus is acting a little different?"_ whispered Bumblebee to the others.

"ya." Replied Bulkhead as he gave a slight nod.

"Same here." Answer Arcee as she crossed her arms.

" _What do guys think it is?"_ Bumblebee asked as he gave a slight glance to the prime who was now standing with Ratchet as they helped Ultra Magnus.

"Don't know. But if it's enough to effect Optimus it can't be good." Said Smokescreen as he gave his thoughts.

"Can say that again Smokescreen. I don't think I have ever seen Optimus like this." Responded Bulkhead as everyone glanced over to the Optimus and saw him talking with Ultra Magnus as he finally came out of recharge.

"I don't think any of us have bulk." Stated Arcee as she frowned slightly. If it was bad enough to cause Optimus to break his normal composure, then it couldn't be good. "But the question is what caused it?" she then added as everyone also glanced back at Optimus.

(The Nemesis)

The nemesis flew through the sky as she sun began to shine on it. Megatron stood at the front of the bridge as he stared out of the front and into the sky ahead.

'The key was a chance to finally destroy Optimus' he thought as then scowled at what happened. 'And thanks to Starscream stupidity that chance was lost. That seeker proves time and again to be a bigger failure then he's worth to me' he then thought bitterly.

Megatron began clenching and unclenching his right fist, as he felt rage slowly grow inside of him at the thought of losing the key. Before he could do anything the doors to the bridge opened and Shockwave walked in.

Shockwave walked up to Megatron and stopped a few feet away, and bowed as he said "Lord Megatron."

Megatron turned around and looked at Shockwave as he calmed down slightly as he hoped Shockwave had some good news for him.

"Shockwave have you manage to find anymore predacon bones?" he asked as looked at shockwave.

"Yes, lord Megatron. I have located another predacon." Answered Shockwave as he brought up a map of the planet with a beacon coming from the center of south America.

"Excellent." Responded Megatron as seemed to calm down greatly after hearing that. he then turned around and stared out the front of the nemesis. "Send one of the predacons to retrieve it." He then ordered to shockwave.

"As you wish lord Megatron." Replied Shockwave as he bowed, before turning around and walking out of the bridge.

Soundwave who had been standing off to the side walked up to Megatron who turned and looked at Soundwave.

"I should have organized the ambush myself. Starscream time and time again, proves to be more of a burden then an asset." Megatron said as he frowned darkly, with soundwave just listening.

"Let us hope my predacon return with the bone so that I can add another type of predacon to my army." Megatron then said as he turned to look out of the front of the ship again, with Soundwave just nodding.

(on the flight deck)

Shockwave walked onto the flight deck and saw Scourge and Predaking resting on opposite sides of the flight deck. Walking to the left he began to walk up to Scourge who opened his and stood up as Shockwave approached.

Shockwave stopped once he reached Scourge and rested his hand on Scourge's gullet for a second, before pulling out data pad with the coordinates of where Scourge needed to go up.

"We have located another fossil. Go to these coordinates and retrieve the fossil." Said Shockwave, to which Scourge merely made a noise before walking over to the side of the flight deck, and taking off to fly to the coordinates.

(Autobot base)

Everyone had been given the all clear by Ratchet and were now spread out around the base. Arcee though was not inside the base but rather on top of it, as she sat on the hill side over looking the landscape.

She sat under a large pine tree as she looked up at the sky and watched the clouds pass by over head. After being given the all clear she went to the hill side to think. She rested her head against the tree as her thoughts turned to Jack once again.

Here she was waiting for a clue to find out where the decepticons were hiding him, and meanwhile he could be being tortured or even dead right now. She let out a frustrated sigh as she tried to remove theses thoughts from her processor.

But before she could she heard her commlink activate, causing her to frown in annoyance.

"Yes" she said as she answered the com.

"Arcee." Came Ratchets voice over the comms. "Agent Fowler has just received word of Decepticon activity, and we believe they may have located another fossil. We need you to go with smokescreen and get the fossil." He then stated.

"On my way." She replied as she stood up and deactivated the call.

As made her way to the command center she saw Smokescreen shadow boxing as he waited. She also saw Optimus and Ratchet at the control. Smokescreen turned around as he heard her approach, and looked like he was pumped.

"Hey… you ready grab a fossil?" He asked her as she walked up to him.

"As ready as I can be." She replied as she then turned to Ratchet who nodded and activated the ground bridge.

"Lets move Smokescreen." She ordered as both of them than ran through the ground bridge.

After they had both disappeared the ground bridge was turned off and Ratchet turned to Optimus.

"Are you sure we didn't need to send Bumblebee along with them Optimus? Smokescreen isn't exactly the most experienced, and Arcee is well a little emotional at this time." Said Ratchet as he voiced his concerns.

"I believe Arcee and Smokescreen will be fine Ratchet, and in the event that Decepticons find another relic we will need the others to respond." Replied Optimus as he looked to where the ground bridge was.

'May primus be with you Arcee, and you as well Smokescreen.' Optimus thought to himself.

(South America)

The ground bridge opened up in a small ravine, and Arcee and Smokescreen ran out as it closed behind them. Taking in the surroundings they notice that the top of the ravine was covered by trees leaving giving the ravine a large amount of shade.

"So where we heading?" asked Smokescreen, as he turned to Arcee.

But before she could reply they heard a Roar and saw Scourge fly right over them and continue down the ravine.

"There's your answer." Arcee said as she transformed into her alt mode and began driving down the ravine after Scourge. Smokescreen quickly transformed as well and drove down the ravine to catch up with Arcee.

Soon he caught up with her and they followed Scourge to fossil, but kept some distance between them and him to insure he didn't see them. After following him for a few minutes they saw Scourge swoop down and land next to a cave.

Arcee and Smokescreen stopped behind a rock just out of sight of Scourge. Scourge began sniffing the air as he tried to find out where the fossil was and found the scent was coming from with in the cave. He turned and began walking into the cave, as Arcee and Smokescreen watched him enter.

"Stay close Smoke, and stay out of sight of it." Arcee whispered as she then began running to the entrance of the cave.

"Ya, or face the predacon with issue. Don't need to tell me twice." Joked Smokescreen as he followed Arcee to the entrance.

As they reached the entrance they peered inside to see Scourge still walking further into the cave. Arcee gestured for Smokescreen to follow and they ran into the cave to catch up with Scourge. They soon saw him and ducked behind a rock formation, as he stopped in an opening with three paths that lead further into the cave. Scourge then began to sniff the air as he tried to determine which path lead to the bone. After smelling the air, he found it to becoming from the left tunnel and began to walk down it. Arcee and Smokescreen watched him go down the left tunnel and quietly ran behind him to see where the fossil was. After going down the tunnel they saw Scourge enter a large opening and began sniffing the air once more.

Scourge then began walking along the walls of the cave a he smelled them to find out where the fossil was precisely. While he homed in on the fossil Smokescreen turned to Arcee as the deployed their blasters.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Smokescreen as he turned to Arcee.

"We wait for the predacon to uncover the bone. When it does I will get its attention, while you make a grab for the bone. Once we have it we make a run for surface and call for a ground bridge." Replied Arcee while still looking at Scourge as he seemed to be focusing on a certain section of the wall.

Scourge then seemed to of found where the fossil was as he took is tail and whack the wall where he was sniffing. He immediately stopped though when cracks formed in the ceiling, and pieces even fell down.

Arcee and Smokescreen also looked up as they realised the cave was not entirely stable.

'Great' thought Arcee as she realised they were going to need to be careful to not bring the whole cave down on themselves.

Scourge also seemed to realise this as he lowered his tail and seemed to try and think of a different way to get the fossil. After making what seemed like a frustrated growl he began pacing along the wall as he tried to think of way to get the bone. After about a minute of thinking he raised his head as an idea came to him. He then turned back to where the fossil was located and suddenly began breathing fire at the wall. The wall then began to turn red from the intense heat of the flames and the rock around the fire began to crack and fall away.

While he tried to melt the rock away around the fossil, Arcee and Smokescreen watched as they waited for the right moment to take the bone.

Another couple of minutes went by and slowly parts of the wall fell away, or melted exposing further and further into the wall. After a giving one final blast of fire a large part of the wall fell away, and there in the rubble way what looked like a talon.

'That's it!' Arcee thought as she turned to Smokescreen and nodded, to which he returned.

Scourge sniffed the bone and was about to grab it when he was suddenly hit in the side of the head with blaster fire. Turning his head to the right he saw Arcee as she unleashed another few shots at him. Growling he turned to her and tried to melt her as he unleashed a wave of fire at her, which she rolled out of the way. The fire however kept going and hit the wall which cracked and spread along the wall. Arcee then fired at Scourge causing him to look away slightly to avoid being shot in the eyes and when he opened them he saw Smokescreen making a run for the fossil. Seeing he needed to do something fast he made a quick spin and smashed Smokescreen away from the fossil with his tail. Smokescreen tumbled across the ground, Arcee saw this and began firing at Scourge. A few shots however missed and hit the wall behind Scourge causing cracks there as well. Scourge then turned to Arcee and tried again to melt her as he unleashed another wave of fire. But as before she dodged the flames and returned her own shots as she fired at Scourge even more. Smokescreen charged at Scourge again as he tried to grab the fossil. Scourge saw this and decided to block his path to the fossil as he stepped on it just before Smokescreen could grab it. Smokescreen slammed into Scourge's leg and looked up just in time to see him swipe his talon into him and send him into a wall.

This however proved to be a mistake as when he slammed into the wall, cracks formed into the wall and ceiling. Everyone looked up as they saw the cave was now coming down. Scourge knew he needed to get out, but before he could a huge section of the ceiling came down and landed on him and rolling onto his wing, effectively pinning him.

"Smoke. We need to leave!" Arcee yelled as more of the ceiling came down.

Smokescreen got up and looked to Arcee and nodded. Just as they were about to leave they saw the floor crack just little bit away from Scourge and saw lava coming up to the surface. Scourge realised he need to get free and tried desperately to get free but still couldn't get the boulder pinning him off. Arcee and Smokescreen then ran down the tunnel leaving Scourge as they tried to make a break for the surface as the cave continued to come down around them.

"Look out!" shouted Smokescreen as he pushed Arcee out of the way from a large part of the ceiling that was coming down, that would have crushed her.

"There!" Arcee pointed as she saw the exit and the light shinning in from the entrance.

Both got up and began running to the to the exit. However, it seemed as if fate had other plans as huge part of the ceiling crashed in front of the entrance trapping them.

"Scarp!" shout Arcee as the last of the debris came down, and the cave finally became somewhat stable.

"No problem, we just faze through." Said Smokescreen as he gestured to the faze shifter. He then tired to turn it on, but it suddenly began sparking.

"uh oh." He said as he tried again to turn it on, but was meet with the same result.

Upon closer inspection, he saw it was slight damaged. Not so bad that it couldn't be repaired, but enough that it wasn't going to work tell it was fixed.

"Scrap." He cursed as he realised they were trapped. "So what do we do." He then asked.

"We dig." She stated as she approached the boulder. "Help me, and let's see if we can move this." She then asked as they began to try and see if we can move the boulder blocking them in.

As they tried to move the boulder blocking the entrance, Scourge continued to try and struggle to get free from the boulder pinning his wing. But it landed in between him and the wall so he couldn't roll it off. And the way he was laying he couldn't lift it. He looked to his right and saw more lava beginning to creep to the surface and flow towards him. He gave another despite struggle to get free but couldn't get the boulder to even budge. As Scourge looked to the lava he felt fear in him as he silently knew that he was doomed.

While Scourge continued to try and free himself, Arcee and Smokescreen gave another try at getting the boulder in their way, to move. But that proved to be to much as they couldn't get it to even budge.

"It's no use, we're not strong enough to move it." Arcee stated as she hit the boulder slightly out of frustration.

"then let's blast our way out." Commented Smokescreen as he changed his servo into a blaster. However, before he could take a shot Arcee put herself between him and the boulder.

"And bring more of the cave down on us. Not a good idea." She responded, as Smokescreen looked up at the ceiling and realised that she was right.

He sighed as he deactivated his blaster and looked to her. "Then how do we get out of here?" he asked.

"I don't know." She replied as she looked down. She then thought about calling for back up perhaps, seeing an option she lifted her servo to her comms and tried to contact base. Unfortunately, though all she got was static.

"Scrap! The minerals are interfering with the comms." She stated as she looked around them.

"Great. So, we ether wait for someone to find us, or for us to offline from energon depletion." Joked Smokescreen.

"We need a powerhouse to move the boulder." Arcee stated as she then looked back further into the cave. "and I think I know how to get it." She then added.

As this was going on Scourge watched as the lava continued to creep closer and closer to him. He knew he needed to get free and soon, but the problem was that he had no way to get free.

Back in the tunnel that lead to Scourge, Arcee and Smokescreen were walking in his direction.

"You can't be serious Arcee? Asking the predacon for help? It's going to eat us the moment we set it free." Argued Smokescreen as he was completely against this idea.

"Hey I don't want to do this anymore than you do." Stated Arcee as she looked at Smokescreen while they made their way back to Scourge. "But it is the only thing strong enough to move that boulder, and rather we like it or not. We are going to have to work with it." she added as they reached Scourge.

They peered out and saw him still pinned under the boulder, they also saw that the lava was now getting really close to him and if he wasn't freed soon he would be consumed by the lava.

"Follow my lead." Arcee whispered as she came into the opening for Scourge to see.

Scourge looked to his side and saw Arcee approaching him. He narrowed his eyes as he roared at her and prepared to defend himself as he brought fire from his gullet to his mouth.

"Hey! Calm down." Order Arcee as she held her servos up in a neutral manner. Scourge growled lowly but brought the fire back into his gullet.

"You need us to free you." She stated as she gestured to him being pinned, to which Scourge growled and looked to his wing that was pinned. "We need you to move the boulder blocking the entrance." She then stated as she gestured to herself and Smokescreen. "So, here's the deal. We free you, you help us get out of here." She said as Scourge growled but seemed to be thinking about what she was saying. "And once we get out of here we leave un provoked." She added as a way to hopefully leave here without another fight breaking out.

Scourge growled in frustration, but seemed to be thinking about what she said. Arcee and Smokescreen waited as tension build with each second as to if Scourge would cooperate with them. Scourge looked at the boulder that was pinning him, and then at the lava that was getting really close to him. Seeing he had very little choice. He lowered his head to the ground but growled defiantly, as he looked to Arcee and Smokescreen.

Arcee let out a sigh of relief and looked to Smokescreen and nodded. Both then approached Scourge cautiously, as Scourge continued to glare and give the occasional growl. Arcee and Smokescreen got on opposite sides of the boulder and nodded to each other.

"On three." Said Arcee as all three got ready to lift the boulder off of Scourge. "One… two… three." She then said as all three began to lift the boulder which began to rise. Inch by inch the boulder rose, and Scourge's wing began to become free. Scourge looked to the boulder and then to the lava which was nearly touching him. After giving one last effort to lift the boulder, the last of Scourge's wing became free, and he immediately moved it out from under the boulder, and moved away from the lava. Once out of the way Arcee and Smokescreen dropped the boulder which then rolled into the puddle of lava as the ground broke away and began to sink beneath the surface.

Arcee and Smokescreen let out a breath and after looking down saw that the predacon bone was right beneath them. Scourge also looked down and saw it and began growling as he was not leaving without the bone.

Arcee and Smokescreen looked to each other and knew this was bad. Scourge continued to growl at them as Arcee stood right over bones.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Smokescreen, as he watched Scourge worryingly.

Arcee looked at Scourge and back down at the bone. "Our lives are more important then the bone." She said to Smokescreen and then kicked the bone to Scourge which landed right in front of them. "You get us out of here, it's yours." She stated as she looked at Scourge who narrowed his eyes as her for a moment as if he thought she was lying, and growled for a few moments.

Both Arcee and Smokescreen sighed in relief when Scourge lowed his head and gently grabbed the bone between his teeth before putting it a little deeper in his mouth to insure it remains secure. Once Scourge was sure it was safe he began to follow Arcee and Smokescreen towards the surface.

After navigating through the rubble, they soon reached the boulder that was blocking the entrance, and Arcee turned to Scourge.

"Your turn." She ordered as waited for Scourge to live up to his end of the promise, which caused Scourge to growl slightly. But stopped and approached the boulder, after giving it a quick test with his head he found it could be moved. He then got his head into position and began to push the boulder, Arcee and Smokescreen watched and were relieved when the boulder began to move towards the entrance. Slowly but surely the boulder moved towards the entrance and soon bits of light began to shine around the boulder showing how close they were to escaping. Giving one final push the boulder rolled out of the entrance and all three stumbled into the open air.

Arcee turned and looked at Scourge for a second as did Scourge. He then growled at her before taking off and flying into the distance, though seemed to have some difficulty due to his injured wing, and by the way he was flying. Arcee and Smokescreen watched until Scourge disappeared from sight, before they let out a sigh of relief that this nightmare was over. Arcee was about to call for a ground bridge when she noticed that Scourge left something behind.

It wasn't the predacon bone, but rather a few of his scales from his injured wing which must have fallen off when he took off. Smokescreen soon spotted it too, and both approached the scales.

"Should we take those with us?" asked Smokescreen as he turned to Arcee.

"Why? They're not the bones we needed to get before the cons." She stated as she turned to look at Smokescreen back.

"Well, maybe Ratchet can study them and see how Shockwave is making these things. He may also be able to find out if the have any weakness." Replied Smokescreen as he gave his thoughts.

Arcee looked back to the scales for a few moments before turning back to Smokescreen and nodding. Smokescreen nodded back and went to pick up the scales while Arcee activated her comms.

"Ratchet, you there?" she asked as tried to get in contact with base.

"We hear you Arcee… did you get the predacon bone?" replied Ratchet.

"No… the predacon got it before we could. But we did get something you might want to checkout." She stated as a ground bridge opened up in front of them.

She then turned and saw Smokescreen with the scales and both began walking through the ground bridge. They soon found themselves back at base, where Ratchet and Optimus were waiting. Once they were clear of the bridge, Ratchet turned it off and turned to face them.

"So, what is this thing that you think I should see?" he asked as he looked between the two for an answer. Smokescreen then walked up to him and held out the scales for him.

"I thought you said you didn't get the predacon bone?" he asked confused, as he looked at Smokescreen.

"Not from the buried one. But we did get a piece from a living predacon." Smokescreen said as he handed the sample to Ratchet. "We thought you'd be able to use this to find out how the cons are making them, and if they had a weakness." He added as he took a step back.

Ratchet looked down at the Scales in his Servo and could tell that they were from the second predacon. "I may be able to see if I can determine how Shockwave is creating them, and by slight chance see if there is a weakness in the structure itself." He said as he looked back up at Smokescreen. "I will be sure to put these to good use." He then added as everyone then walked towards the med bay so Ratchet could run some tests on the scales.

While on the way there they bumped into the other and they joined them to see how Shockwave was creating the predacons, as they were curious about it as well. When they got to the med bay Ratchet immediately put the scales into a scanner and began studying the scales. After a few minutes' data ran cross a screen near the device and Ratchet began reading over the data.

"So, what did you find doc?" asked Wheeljack.

"It's strange… by this data, its saying it's not a clone at all." He responded both confused and fascinated.

"What do you mean?" Bulkhead asked while Miko who was on his Shoulder plating nodded.

"From what I can tell… the predacon had CNA infused into it… not created by it." He explained.

" _So what your saying is that they experimented on someone and turned them into a predacon?"_ asked Bumblebee as he tried to clarify what Ratchet had just told them, while Raf translated for Miko, June and Fowler.

"That is correct Bumblebee." Ratchet replied as he turned to look at the scout. "From this data, it is most likely Megatron had a cybertronian turned into the predacon." He stated.

"But why would the cons willingly turn one of their own into a predacon." Raf asked.

"What makes you think it was one of their own." Wheeljack responded. "they most likely used a bot." he added as frowned.

"Ratchet" June said gaining the medics attention. "Could you by chance see who it was that the cons turned into the beast?" she asked.

"Of… of course." Stumbled Ratchet in slight fear as it was looking more and more likely that Optimus could be correct.

He then hesitantly walked back up to the console and executed a command to identify who the CNA belonged too. After the command was activated it immediately began running through a data base of all known personal on both sides. After about a minute some data came up and Ratchet studied.

"It says… that who ever it was, was once a Autobot." Ratchet said as he became even more nervous and to look at Optimus for a second.

"Well who is it?" Miko asked.

Ratchet paused for a moment before bringing up the identity of who was Scourge and when he did. The room became ice cold and dead silent. Because there next to Scourge's picture was none other then Jackson Darby.

(Authors Notes)

And Done. Wow. So, the bots have finally learned the truth about Scourge. Its going to be interesting to see how the team reacts to this, and how things happen from here.

Again, I would like to apologise for taking so long, but I had exam for this semester and suffering a case of writer's block.

Hopefully I will have another chapter up in a few days.

Thank you guys so much for following this story and those who leave reviews. I always look forward to reading them.

Until next time, this is the forgotten soldier signing off.


	16. Chapter 16

(Authors Notes)

Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait. Life had gotten in the way so I had to put this on hold tell I could find time to write this. So I'm really sorry for the long wait. Thankyou for the reviews and for those who are now joining in following this story.

Now without further a due, let's begin.

(Autobot base)

The room was dead silent, no one said a word as everyone was completely shocked to see what was on the screen. Because there on the screen was none other then Jackson Darby. The reactions varied throughout the room. Smokescreen, Fowler, Bumblebee, Raf, Bulkhead and Miko all had a look of shock on their faces with their jaws wide open. Ratchet gritted his dental plates and clenched his fist at what one of the children had become, thanks to Megatron. Ultra Magnus who had been silently listening in on the conversation frowned at the news, that one of their allies was now the enemy. Optimus closed his optics as his fears were now confirmed. June paled at the sight as she saw her son as the beast and brought her hand up to her mouth.

But the worst by far was Arcee, who looked as if the world was ending for her. Her optics were as wide as basketballs, and were even shaking. Her whole body became stiff as a rock as she stared at the screen showing the picture of her partner.

The room remained dead silent as everyone looked at one another to see if they were seeing the same thing. Finally, when it seemed that the silence was becoming unbearable it was finally broken.

"But how?" asked Raf in shock, at seeing Jack's photo on the screen. No one answered as it was clear that no one knew the answer.

Before anyone else could say anything, June began swaying back and forth, while having a distant look in her eyes. She then looked like she was going to fall over, but Fowler caught her before she did so. He then lifted her up and carried her over to one of the gurney, before laying her down on it.

Ratchet then quickly ran over and scanned her to make sure she was alright. After making the scan he read over the data from panel on his am.

"She will be alright… the stress just proved to be to much for her, and she passed out. She will wake up shortly." Ratchet stated, as everyone looked at June for a moment and knew this was not going to go well for her.

"Okay wait?" said Miko as she brought everyone to the main problem. "So your saying that Jack is the dragon bot we've been fighting?" she then asked as everyone turned to look at Ratchet.

"That is correct Miko." Replied Ratchet as he looked down slightly while he responded.

"But how?" asked Raf once again, as everyone want to know how this happened. Everyone one then looked at Ratchet as they wanted to know how this happened.

"I don't know." Replied Ratchet as he looked at the ground for a moment. "There shouldn't be any way for Shockwave to do this."

" _What do you mean? He clearly infused CNA into him."_ Responded Bumblebee.

"That's just it Bumblebee." Said Ratchet frustrated. "He shouldn't have been able to infuse CNA into him. It should have killed him." He then stated.

"Is it possible that your scans can show how Shockwave did it?" asked Raf.

Ratchet paused for a moment and scratched his chin. A habit he picked up since coming to earth. After a few moments, he looked up and looked at the others.

"It's possible… I would have to see if I could identify where Shockwave started. But the problem is that there appears to be no organic strains left." Ratchet responded as he began rubbing his chin once more.

" _What do you mean Ratchet?"_ asked Bumblebee.

"Because Bumblebee… even if Shockwave did infuse CNA into him, he should still have a base gene in him. But my scans show that he has no…DNA as you humans call it. Only CNA." Responded Ratchet.

"But how then did your scans find out it was him if there is no DNA in him?" asked Raf as he saw a flaw then on how Jack could have become Scourge.

Ratchet opened his mouth to respond but stopped as this clearly puzzled him too. He frowned for a moment as he tried to think of a way to find an answer. After a few seconds his optics widen as he quickly made his way to the console and began to type a few commands.

"What are you doing Ratchet?" asked Bulkhead as everyone wondered what he was trying to do.

"If I can compare both scans… I can see what strand was the base gene that was used." Replied Ratchet as he finished typing the last of the commands, and after a few seconds' results began showing up on the console.

"By the all spark." Ratchet exclaimed in shock.

"What? What is it?" asked Smokescreen.

"According to these results. He… he already had CNA inside of him." Replied Ratchet in shock.

"But didn't you say that should have killed him?" asked Raf.

"That is the fascinating thing Rafael. It shows that it was completely stable." Responded Ratchet. "How could I have not seen this before?!" he then said as he cursed himself for failing to notice this.

"But how did he get it though?" asked Miko in confusion.

Ratchet didn't respond immediately again, as he clearly had no idea how this happened. But just as he was about to respond a light blue light caught everyone's attention. Everyone then turned to look at Optimus as he pulled out the key to Vector sigma. As he studied it, it glowed faintly once more as if it was trying to tell them something. Ratchet then had a far-off look as he seemed deep in thought. But no more then a Nano click later did his optics widen as an idea came to him. He then quickly walked to Optimus, who turned to look at him

"Optimus… may I see the key for a few seconds?" he asked, to which Optimus gave a confused look, but still gave him the key.

Once Ratchet had the key he quickly made his way back over to the console, and began scanning it.

"What are you doing Ratchet?" asked Arcee who had surprisingly remained quite up until now.

Ratchet said nothing as he continued to scan the key and read the data coming off of it. Everyone else shared confused looks as they looked to one another to see if anyone had an idea as to what Ratchet was doing. Another few seconds went by and nothing seemed to happen, until all of a sudden data started streaming on the screen.

Ratchet quickly read the data before saying. "By the all spark." In complete shock.

"What is it old friend?" asked Optimus.

"The same CNA that was inside of Jack… is also in the key." Replied Ratchet astounded.

"WHAT!?" everyone said in unison with the exception of Optimus.

"Curse me for a fool." Cursed Ratchet as he hated himself for not noticing sooner. "How could I of not of known? When Jack accepted the key it not only became linked to him by is unique bio signature. It swapped a single strand of CNA with his DNA to insure they were always connected." He then stated.

"So the key was turning him into a bot?" asked Miko.

Ratchet sighed before answering. "Nnnoooo… he was not going to be completely changed by the key. It only gave him a single strand of CNA, which Shockwave clearly used as the bases to start his transformation." He said irritably.

"But why would Jack attack us though?" asked Raf, as another big question that got everyone thinking.

"He's right. Why would he attack us and not the cons?" responded Miko as she to saw the problem.

Everyone once again turned to look at Ratchet, who began scratching his chin once more. Again, silence filled the room, while Ratchet contemplated about what may have happened. He then frowned as an theory started to form in his mind.

"It is possible…" he began as he looked up at the rest of the team. "That when he was transformed in the predacon, his processor became wiped. So once the transformation was complete he no longer remembered anything about himself. He was basically given a clean slate." He then said as he gave his thought to the rest of the team.

" _That might not be true."_ Stated Bumblebee as everyone now turned to look at him.

"What do you mean bee?" asked Bulkhead.

" _When we were in the cave and he was about to offline me, the key started reacting. That was why he went all crazing back there. Perhaps he still has some memories of the key."_ Bumblebee explained, to which everyone turned back to Ratchet to see if he could be right.

"Perhaps he didn't lose his memories per say… but rather… they were suppressed into the back of his memory banks." Ratchet responded as he thought Bumblebee could be onto something.

"So how do we get him to… un suppress his memories?" asked Miko.

"Because the key is still connected to him… there is a chance that it could be what is needed to unlock that part of his mind." Replied Ratchet, to which everyone turned to look at the key now on the table.

"Then that is what we shall to do." Responded Optimus which gained the teams attention. "Autobots… if any of us should encounter Jack on the field then we must pull together to try and bring him back to us." He stated which almost everyone nodded too. Everyone except Arcee who seemed to study Optimus as if trying to see something inside of him.

"Optimus?" she asked gaining the prime's attention. "Aren't you a little concerned or… surprised by this?" She asked.

Optimus didn't immediately respond which caused Arcee to frown even further, as he continued to act a little off. She then looked at him and saw something behind his normal composure. It was hidden well, but she had been around the prime long enough to see what it was.

Fear.

But why was he fearful? Was he fearful of the fact that they were going to have to face a close member of the team? Or was it something else? But then a thought hit her and it made her energon boil.

"You've known this for a while now haven't you!?" she said as her optics narrowed and she pointed at their leader.

Again, Optimus did not immediately respond and seemed shift his footing slightly out of nervousness, and that was all the proof Arcee needed to know the truth.

"You knew and never told us!" She then accused as she continued to tear apart Optimus verbally. "You knew and decided not to tell us! What if we killed him!?" she then added.

"Arcee" came Ratchet as the medic gained Arcee's attention. "It was not something we could have easily told you. If we told you and then you did face him, you would hesitate and he would surly have killed you." He then stated as he tried to defuse the situation.

Arcee didn't reply as she just seemed to only become more anger. She then turned towards the exit and began making her way towards it.

"Arcee." Optimus said as he tried to Stop Arcee, but she just raised her hand to silence the prime.

"I don't want to hear it." She hissed as she left the room.

Everyone watched as she stormed out of the room, to some where else in the base. After a few moments of silence everyone turned to look at Optimus as he just stared at the door. His normal composure completely gone, and now only showing sadness and uncertainty.

"Optimus?" asked Ratchet who tried to gain the primes attention.

But Optimus didn't respond, and his look soon returned to normal as his face become one of determination. Everyone watched as he then walked of the room as well, as he went to find Arcee.

(The nemesis)

Scourge braced himself as he slammed into the flight deck of the nemesis. He took in a few deep breaths after a difficult journey back to the ship. He had a very difficult time to just fly in the right direction as his damage wing made it difficult to for him, to fly. Not to mention how much it hurt to flap. He then got his talons under himself and pushed himself off of the flight deck, just in time to see the hanger doors open up. Once open he watched as Megatron, Soundwave and Knockout walk out onto the flight deck. Scourge then began walking up to them, before stopping just in front oft them.

"Well Scourge." Said Megatron as he walked up him. His voice though showed he was not pleased with how long it took Scourge to return. "Did you manage to retrieve the bone?" he asked as he held out his hand for Scourge to deposit in.

Scourge wasted no time in releasing the bone from his mouth and into Megatron's servo. Pleased with having another bone to clone more predacons from Megatron let out an evil grin as he closed his servo around the bone. But his grin soon disappeared though as he noticed Scourge's wing was off to the side slightly.

"And I see you came back with an injury." He then stated with a voice of disappointment, as he and everyone else looked at Scourge's wing to see the extent of his injury.

"Knockout." Megatron then said as he gained the cons attention. "To what… degree is my beast injured."

Knockout wasted no time in examining the injury and coming to a conclusion.

"The framing on his wing is damaged. Not enough to remove his ability to take flight. But enough that it will cause him some amount of pain." Knockout said as turned back to Megatron. "I can treat it if that is what you wish." He then stated.

"No." stated Megatron which surprised everyone. "If Scourge is to… learn not to come back injured then we will have to learn from the pain of his failures." He then stated as he glanced at Scourge before turning around, and beginning to walk back into the nemesis.

Soundwave and knockout soon followed, while Scourge stared at the ground, as he was upset that his wing wasn't going to be fixed. His head shot up though when a large talon stepped into his vision, and saw Predaking standing in front of him. Predaking had been to the side and heard everything but decided to merely observe, until the others left.

" **How is it you managed to injure your wing?"** Ordered Predaking as he desired to know how Scourge injured himself.

" **The Autobot femme and rookie caused a boulder to crush my wing."** Answered Scourge somewhat hesitantly.

" **You allowed the weak femme and rookie to injure you?"** asked Predaking in disgust, as he frowned at Scourge.

" **She was not weak!"** Retorted Scourge almost defensively, before immediately stopping.

Why had he said that? She was the enemy. So why did he defend her abilities?

But before he could think any further on what he said, his head was slammed into the flight deck of the nemesis. He immediately looked up to see Predaking's talon on his head as he stood over him angrily.

" **What was that!?"** Predaking demanded.

" **N-Nothing… please… forgive me."** Replied Scourge as he submitted.

Satisfied with his reply Predaking got off of Scourge before walking back over to the wall where he had been sleeping, before all this started. Once there he lied back down and went back to sleep, while Scourge just got off of the ground and continued to think about what he said.

'Why did I say that' he wondered.

The strange think was... Was that it felt natural. Like he wanted to defend her. But why? She was the enemy. Just a 'weak' troop for the Autobots. But his mind then looked to how many that femme had removed from the Decepticon ranks since he was made by Shockwave. If she was weak then she wouldn't be able to take down that many. But it still didn't explain why he did it naturally. Why did he do it naturally?

(Autobot Base)

Arcee had just reached the entrance that lead into the base. A look a pure anger still plastered on her face. She continued walking for a little while longer before stopping a little ways in the forest just outside of the base.

'Why !?' she thought angrily as she started to pace back and forth. 'Why would he lie!? He knows how much Jack means to me, so why would he keep it to himself!?' She thought bitterly as continued to pace. Soon her thoughts changed from being on Optimus to what she had just found out. 'How could this of happened? How could be that thing? Why Primus? Why must you make my life the pit?' she thought sadly.

She then leaned on a tree before sliding down it tell she was sitting under it. Arcee then stared at the ground for a few moments before bringing her hands up to face as she tried to keep her composure. But for the first time in a long time she failed and slowly started to cry. As she silently cried, Optimus came into view. As he saw Arcee and saw her condition he felt his spark ack at the sight. Silently he walked over tell he was but a few steps from Arcee, who had yet to realise he was there.

"Arcee." Optimus finally replied, announcing his presence to her.

Arcee didn't even react as she just kept her head in her hands, and cried. Optimus slowly lowered himself to one knee and placed a comforting hand on Arcee's shoulder.

"Arcee… I know you are not pleased with the fact that kept this information from you. But please know I did so, with the intent of protecting team prime and you." He stated softly.

"We could of… killed him… Optimus." She responded between breathes still not removing her hand yet.

"I understand, and I am sorry I kept this information from you. I now see that it was not the right decision, and for that I apologies." Replied Optimus as Arcee's crying final stopped.

"But what are we going to do Optimus? My partner no longer remembers who he is, he no longer remembers me." She then said quietly.

"That question I'm afraid do not have an answer to. But I can assure Arcee, he will remember us, and we will bring him home." Responded Optimus as Arcee turned her head to look at him, she didn't reply but did nod in response to Optimus.

"Do you wish for me to stay?" Optimus asked as he took his servo off of Arcee's shoulder, to which Arcee shook her head.

"No… I need to be by myself for a little bit." She responded.

"Understood." Replied Optimus as he then stood up and turned around to return to the other, to allow Arcee to be by herself for a little while.

(With the others)

The other still stood in the medical ward discussing the news that was just brought to them.

"So what's the plan then?" asked Smokescreen. "How do we get the key to him with out him trying to eat us?"

" _Could we possibly lure him into a trap?"_ asked Bumblebee as everyone brainstormed on how to do this.

"Perhaps… but there is no guarantee that it would be Jack that comes. It could very well be the other one." Responded Ratchet while rubbing his chin.

While the bots continued to think. Raf, Miko, and Fowler walked over to June who was now showing signs of regaining consciousness. Sure enough a few moments later June bolted upright gasping for air.

"Are you alright miss Darby?" asked Raf as he looked up to her with worry.

"I had a… crazy dream where… Jack was the beast that the bots have been fighting." She replied as she grabbed her head.

"Uuuhhh that wasn't a dream." Responded Miko.

"W-what!" yelled June as her head shot up to stare at the three.

"Jack is the predacon miss Darby… you… passed out from shock when we found out." Replied Raf.

"NO! NO! NO! this can't be happening!?" June said to herself as she felt her world falling apart.

"June." Said Fowler as he rested a hand on her back, which caused her to look at the agent.

"I'm not going to lie. I have no idea what your going through right now. But I can assure you that the bots will get him back, and I can promise you that I will do everything I can on behalf of the US government to get him back to you." He said reassuring which seemed to calm June down.

"Thank you, Fowler." Responded June gratefully for his support.

"Please… call me Bill." Replied Fowler.

While June and Fowler continued to talk Miko looked to Raf and made a gaging noise while looking like she wanted to throw up.

Before they could go any further a voice got everyone's attention.

"Alright everyone" said Ratchet as everyone looked at him. "As much as I want to continue with discussing this problem. I was planning on operating on Ultra magnus and trying to get him a prostatic hand ready. So everyone needs to get out." He stated, and with that everyone looked at one another and turned to the exit.

Soon enough all who remained in the med may was Ratchet and Ultra Magnus. Ratchet turned to him and walked up to the berth that he was currently resting on.

"How do you feel." He asked as he began to look over the stub where his hand once was.

"Sore doctor." Responded Ultra magnus as he watched Ratchet examine his arm. Ratchet made noise before turning to pick up one of his tools.

"Doctor… do you believe it is wise for our leader to try and reason with the predacon?" asked Ultra Magnus as he frowned slightly. Ratchet stopped what he was doing and turned to look at his patient.

"I understand how this must make you feel Ultra Magnus." He responded which caused Ultra Magnus to frown further while he looked at the stub where his hand once was. "Losing a hand to Jack… had it been me, I'm not sure if I would be so welcoming of the idea as well." Ratchet continued while starting to prep Ultra Magnus's stub for surgery. "But you must understand that his action right now, are being twisted by Megatron… and I'm sure he will be very ashamed for harming you or any of the others." He then stated.

"It still doesn't excuse…" started Ultra Magnus but had to stop and hiss in pain as Ratchet touched a sensitive area. "the brutality of his aggression." He then finished as he looked at Ratchet.

"And I agree with you Ultra Magnus." Replied Ratchet as he continued to work on the injury. "But we do not know why he acted the way he did… and I believe Optimus will question his actions when he comes back to us." He then stated.

Ultra magnus didn't respond after that as simply rested his head and closed his optics to let Ratchet work.

(The nemesis)

It was currently nighttime as the nemesis was flying through the sky, with only a few clouds surrounding it. As it was flying around two were currently on the flight deck, trying to get some rest. Those two were none other then Scourge and Predaking.

Predaking rested to the left and was clearly fully asleep, but Scourge however was a different story. Scourge repeatedly kept changing positions as he tried to get comfortable, but to no avail. Finally giving up on trying to get some rest Scourge got up and walked to the edge of the nemesis and looked over the edge to the ground far below.

He let out a sigh as he laid down with his head resting just over the edge to continuing to look at the ground below, to try and get mind off of what he was thinking.

He sighed once more as his thoughts turned to the hallucinations that he had been getting. His thoughts turned to the blue femme who came up often in these hallucinations. Could she be the reason he was experiencing these visions? She did come up often in them so could she have something to do with their existence?

But what Scourge was un aware of was that he optics where watching him. Back on the bridge of the nemesis Megatron looked at his beast with a frown. He could easily tell something was wrong with Scourge, and he was not pleased with that. if Scourge was going to help bring down the Autobots he is going to need to be at his top performance. Not just in strength, but also in mind.

"Shockwave… could you come to the bridge." He said over to the comms.

After a few minutes the doors to the bridge opened and Shockwave walked in.

"Lord Megatron." Said Shockwave with a bow as he announced his presence to the war lord.

"Shockwave" started Megatron as he turned around to face him. "I believe something is not right with my pet." He stated as he gestured to the screen, which continued to show Scourge's behavior. "I would like you to… look into the matter and make sure my pets are at their best… not just in strength… but in mind as well." He then stated as Shockwave turned his head to look back at Him.

"If you wish for them to be at their peak master… Why is it you wished for Scourge to not have his injured wing repaired?" Shockwave asked as he couldn't see why Megatron would want Scourge at his peak, but not have his injury healed.

"My reasoning for not repairing his wing… is to teach him to not allow them to happen in the first place. It will also be a reminder to him not to fail, as well as Predaking." Responded Megatron to which Shockwave nod in response.

"As you wish my lord." Replied Shockwave before bowing and turning around to see what was up with Scourge's behaviour.

(Authors notes)

And that's all for now folks. So Megatron is starting to see Scourge is up to something. Arcee is an emotional mess right now. Ultra Magnus is caught at a cross road right now, and Scourge is starting to follow Predaking which could be bad.

I will try and get another chapter out as fast as I can, but I can't guarantee when that will happen, only that is will come out.

Until next time, this is the Forgotten Soldier signing off.


	17. Chapter 17

(Authors notes)

Hey everyone I'm back with another chapter so that's good. I know its been a while, I had a bad case of writer's block and just couldn't seem to break it. But I broke through it and now we got another chapter.

So, without further a due, let's begin.

(The nemesis)

Scourge had just gotten up from the side of the ship and went back towards the wall where Predaking was, but turned his head as the hanger doors to the nemesis opened. Scourge was confused as to why it was Shockwave who was coming out, and turned to walk up to him. Once in front of him Scourge sat down and looked at Shockwave as the scientist looked up at him.

Shockwave studied his creation for a few moments before gesturing for Scourge to follow him. Scourge followed him into the nemesis, though with some difficulty due to his size. But slowly they went further and further into the nemesis, until Shockwave turned towards a door to his left. Scourge followed Shockwave into the room and soon found himself inside of Shockwave's laboratory.

Shockwave walked over to a shelf and pulled a scanner off of it, before turning around and walking back up to Scourge. Scourge mean while lied down so he didn't have to be so hunched over, to avoid hitting the ceiling. Once Shockwave was beside Scourge he began scanning over Scourge's head to determine what was wrong. A few moments went by before the scanner started beeping, and Shockwave removed it from Scourge's head.

Shockwave then began to read over the data as he walked up to a console, where he displayed the rest of the data. While he read over the data, Scourge watched and saw a scan of his head, and zooming in on his processor. Shockwave then began typing commands into the console and the console began looking at different parts of Scourge's processor. Another few moments went by before the console zoomed in on a certain part of Scourge's processor and data streamed on the console.

"hhhmmm" was all Shockwave said as he read data before turning to the shelf to grab a piece of equipment.

Once he had in hand he began walking up to Scourge who now had a look of confusion and worry about what was going on. Shockwave could tell this and placed a hand the top of Scourge's head to settle him down slightly.

"No need for alarm, my creation. The cortical physic patch will not harm you." He stated as Scourge calmed down slightly.

He then placed the cortical physic patch to the back of Scourge's head causing him to go into stasis, before taking the other end and attaching it to the console. After a few seconds' images began to appear on the screen and Shockwave waited to see what they were. Soon the images began to clear up and Shockwave could see what was on his creation's mind.

As Shockwave studied the images he soon began to realised that they were in fact glimpses of memories from before he was turned. Shockwave was confused about this as there should have been no way for Scourge to have any fragments of memories. He then began to pull up some charts showing Scourge's vitals and other stats. He read over them to see if there was some physical way for him to keep those fragments.

Some time went by and nothing changed as Shockwave continued to study the data for anything. Perhaps the CNA that was already inside of him kept his processor from being completely wiped. After all his processor waves are very similar to when he was still organic. But how was he to keep Scourge from getting his memories back completely and reinsure Megatron that Scourge would not turn against them.

Even if Scourge did, Shockwave knew Predaking could control the matter since Scourge made much more powerful. But Shockwave would still like to avoid the problem before it came to that. As Shockwave continued to think of a solution a memory appeared on the screen Showing the battle with the Autobots back in the cave when the key gave him flash backs. Shockwave watched the memory will mild fascination as it showed Scourge thought the Autobots were responsible for his hallucinations. Seeing a Solution Shockwave walked over to a shelf and grabbed a device that he had once used before on Scourge and walked back over to him. Once at Scourge's side he inserted the device into Scourge's head and walked back over to the monitor. Shockwave then typed away at the monitor as he set the commands that he wanted. Soon the device activated and images of Scourge's flashbacks with the exception of his brawl with the autobots where the images of the flashbacks just blurred to the point where nothing could be identified.

With the task done, Shockwave walked back over to Scourge and removed the device and put it away before also disconnecting the cortical physic patch as well. Shockwave then walked back over to the monitor and closed the file as Scourge began to come back online. Shockwave watched as Scourge got up and shook his head before turning and looking at Shockwave to know what happened.

"It would seem that the hallucinations that you were experiencing where the result of a autobot virus." Lied Shockwave, which caused Scourge to growl at the word Autobot.

"I have removed the negative affects of the virus, but it also resulted in you not being able to remember what the hallucinations were." Continued Shockwave as Scourge nodded his head as he could no longer remember what the visions were about.

"If the vision start again come to me and I will negate the effects." Said Shockwave before leading Scourge out of the room and back to the flight deck.

(Autobot base)

Everyone had returned to the med bay as Ratchet said he was now finishing on Ultra Magnus's new prosthetic hand. Everyone watched as sparks flew as he finished with the new appendage.

"I've done everything I can." Ratchet said as he turned around to face Optimus "Considering the limitations of my equipment, and less then ideal spare parts." He then said as he moved out of the way so everyone could see the appendage.

The claw like servo was not much with only two large fingers on one side and one on the other to allow him to grab things.

"It remains uncertain if Ultra Magnus new appendage will be fit for battle. Though it should prove functional… after the requisite amount of therapy." He then explained as he looked at Optimus.

"That is all we can hope for old friend." Replied Optimus reassuringly, to which Ratchet just nodded.

"You doing okay?" asked Arcee as she turned to Wheeljack.

"I'm still two fisted." Responded Wheeljack as he clenched his hands.

"So is Magnus." Replied Arcee as she turned to look back at Ultra Magnus.

"How 'bout you? How are you holding up… after all that's come to light?" responded Wheeljack as he looked to Arcee who frowned slightly as she knew very well what he was getting at.

"He's still in there somewhere… we just got bring it out." Responded Arcee softly.

Smokescreen turned to Bumblebee as he tried to lighten the mode. "Wait and see. The claws going to become his signature. You know like the way you own that voice box Ratchet Slapped in your throat."

Bumblebee didn't take kindly to that comment. _"What are you saying… I can't speak?"_ he said angrily.

"I mean everyone can understand you just fine" replied Smokescreen as he realised he hit a sore spot with Bumblebee. "Why would you even consider getting it fixed now?"

But this did was make Bumblebee even angrier before spinning to look at him and shouting _"Shut it Smokescreen!"_

He then began marching away as he muttered under his _"Own this voice box… Do I look like I 'own' this thing!"_

As he left the room Miko turned to Raf and asked. "Woah, what did he say?"

"Bee's kind of still attached to the sound his own voice. His original one." Responded Raf as he then turned to look at the door where he left.

While the humans continued to talk, Bulkhead tapped Ratchet's shoulder to get his attention.

"So how much longer will Magnus be out?" he asked as the rest of the bots turned to look at Ultra Magnus.

"I'm not sure really. But he should wake shortly." Replied Ratchet, as no more then a few seconds later did a groan come from the commander.

Everyone in the room then looked at the commander as he slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He then slowly looked down to the new appendage and began to take it in. But before he could sit up he felt a hand grasp his should to make him lie back down.

"Easy Ultra Magnus." Ratchet said as he eased Ultra Magnus back down.

"Doctor…" started the commander as he looked at Ratchet. "How did it go?" he then asked.

"The operation was a success" replied Ratchet. "But you need to rest before we begin getting you use to your new limb."

The Commander merely sighed as he rested his head against the berth. He could tell this was going to be a long day.

(The nemesis)

Megatron stood looking out the front of the nemesis as he began trying to formulate a plan to draw prime and the autobots out of hiding.

'But how?' he thought as he frowned slightly. With them now having a ground bridge. It would be nearly impossible to track them to their new base, and medic most likely had place shielding's around it so they couldn't pick up their signals. But there had to be a way to draw them out into the open.

He couldn't risk dropping down the shields to allow the nemesis to be picked up on radar as bate. The autobots could cause damage to his ship and possibly weaken his forces further.

But wait. They still didn't know what had happened to Optimus's chosen human. They didn't know that he was now predacon.

'Knowing prime, the moment the boy's signal comes up, all of team prime will come to try and rescue the pest.' Megatron thought as he started to form a slight grin.

"Soundwave." He then said as he gained the silent mech's attention. "Do we still have any of the organic's DNA before we changed him?" he then asked as he turned to look at him, to which Soundwave merely nodded.

"I believe it is time to draw prime out of hiding. Have Shockwave bring me some of the pests DNA so that we can draw Prime out of hiding." He then ordered, but before Soundwave could acknowledge the order, the doors to the bridge opened up and in came Shockwave along with Starscream who most likely had finished gathering energon from a mine. A punishment Megatron had him do for his screw ups lately.

"Shockwave what is the results from looking at my beast?" he asked as he turn to look at him.

"After analysis, I have deduced a few things lord Megatron." Replied Shockwave.

"Oh really and what might that be?" Megatron then asked as he tilted his head slightly.

"During my examination of Scourge, I discovered he his having… flashbacks" responded Shockwave with the last part coming out a little more hesitantly.

"Are you saying the beast remembers who he is!?" asked Starscream angrily, though was secretly glad that this happened as he wanted a reason to get rid of the beast.

"No… while it is having flashbacks from when it was an organic. It still does not know what they mean." Shockwave began to explain before turning to look at Megatron. "In fact, it believes the Autobots are responsible for their occurrence… I have since then wiped Scourge's processor of these flashbacks and told him if they start occurring again to come to me so I can wipe them before they start to make sense to him." Shockwave then explained.

"hhhhmmmm… So what you are saying is that my beast believes that the autobots are responsible for it's processor ack, and wishes to take revenge on them?" asked Megatron as an plan began to form in his head resulting in a small grin.

"Indeed." Was all Shockwave said in reply.

A few moments of silence passed before it was broken by the war lord.

"Shockwave is it possible for you to place a hologram of my beast from when he was organic over a human sized protoform?" Megatron asked to which Shockwave just nodded.

"Master… what is it you are thinking?" asked Starscream as he had no idea what Megatron was planning.

"I think its time prime learned the truth about what has become of his favorite human, and for my beast to release it's anger on the autobots." Megatron said as he started to tell what his plan was. "When the autobots learn the truth about their pet, they won't be able to fight him, and with my beast ready to tear them apart. They will stand no chance and Scourge will destroy them."

"And what if they by chance… manage to get the beast to come to its senses?" asked Starscream.

"There is no need for alarm Starscream… even if Scourge regained his memories, which I calculate is near impossible. Predaking will keep him in line or terminate him. As I designed him to be superior out of the two." Responded Shockwave as he turned to look at Starscream.

"Then let us begin… it is time for prime to learn the truth, and to destroy the autobots once and for all." Said Megatron as the evil grin on his face grew.

(Next day Autobot base)

Ratchet and Optimus were currently helping Ultra magnus get use to his new appendage. Right now, Ratchet was trying to get him to grasp an empty energon cube, which sadly wasn't going well. It was ether he didn't grip it with enough force and it would slide out of his hand. Or he gripped it to tight and wound up hurting his arm from the stress. So for what had to of been the hundredth time Magnus reached down as he tried to grasp the cube.

"That's it Ultra magnus… take it slow." Said Ratchet as he coached Ultra magnus into getting use to his new hand.

Soon Ultra magnus had the claws around the cube and slowly began to lift it. However, he only got it about half way before it once again fell from his hand, which caused the commander to release a frustrated sigh.

"Keep trying old friend… soon you will be normal." Said Optimus as he tried to reassure him.

Ultra magnus merely kept his gaze on the cube before sighing once more as he tried again.

While Ultra magnus continued with therapy. Some of the others where now returning from scouting missions. Decepticon activity was at a low which was not a good sign, despite the fact that they had found energon. Lately if they found any energon, even if it was just a shard. The cons were all over them like Scarplets at a cybertronian cemetery. But for the last twenty-four hours there hasn't been even a exhaust fume of them.

"Con have been quite… to quite." Stated Arcee as she voiced what everyone was thinking.

" _Ya what give's? They off line or something?"_ asked Bumblebee as he gave his thought.

"I hear ya bee. Its been to quite… even for them." Responded Bulkhead.

"I just hope Jack's alright." Said Arcee as she lowered her head slightly.

Everyone turned to look at her and felt pity for her as they knew this must be hard for her. With some knowing (Mostly bee whose room is right next to hers) she was up all night pacing in her room and didn't get any recharge because of what they found out.

"Hey don't worry Arcee." Said Smokescreen as he tried to reassure her as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "We'll get him back… we just got to knock some sense into him." He then stated as the others nodded in reassurance.

"I hope your right." She replied as she still looked down at the ground.

"So anyone come up with any new ideas to get Jack back on our side?" asked Bulkhead as he tried to get Arcee a little more focused.

"No… everything we think of there's a good chance it won't work." Responded Smokescreen.

"But we can agree on one thing." Said Arcee as everyone looked at her. "The key to Vector sigma is our best chance at getting Jack to remember us." She stated as she brought her head up.

Before anyone could say any more, the console at near the ground bridge began beeping before a voice could be heard.

"PRIME!" said Agent fowler as they gathered around the console.

"We hear you agent fowler… what's up?" responded Arcee as she stood in front of the other.

"What else… cons. My boys at the pentagon picked up a whole swarm of them in Siberia, I think you might want to check it out." Responded Fowler from the screen.

"We'll check into it." Replied Arcee with a nod.

"I'm sending you the coordinates." Was agent Fowler said in response before hanging up and the coordinates to the sighting began appearing on the console, while Arcee turned to Bumblebee.

"Bee get Optimus." She told him, to which he nodded with a quick beep before walking down the main tunnel.

Once Bumblebee was out of sight Arcee turned back to the console and began typing something into the console.

"What are you doing?" asked Smokescreen as he didn't know what she was up too.

"Running a signal scan around the area where Fowler spotted the cons." Arcee responded without even looking over her shoulder to tell him.

Once the command was complete the console began scanning over the area for any signals.

"How long will it take?" was Smokescreen's next question.

"Shouldn't be long" was all Arcee said as she watched the computer slowly show Decepticon signal popping up one by one.

Why the console continued to find the rest of the signals everyone turned to the main hall as Optimus began to approach with Bumblebee.

"I hear special agent Fowler has picked up Decepticon activity." Said the prime as he looked over his team for confirmation, which he got with nods.

However, everyone's gaze shifted to the console when it began beeping again signaling its task was complete. Everyone then turned to look at the screen as the it began to show what it had found. The screen lit up with over a dozen Decepticon signals, but there was one signal they were not prepared to see. Because also on the screen was a signal showing Jack around the center.

Everyone turned to look at Optimus as his face contorted to a serious look.

"Ratchet…" Said Optimus as he activated his comm link. "Report to the command center." He then ordered before turning off the connection.

Ratchet was a few minutes before he arrived at the command center and Smokescreen had activated the ground bridge to let Miko and Raf through as they just got out of school.

"It most certainly a trap" Ratchet said as he looked at the signal.

"How can you tell?" asked Miko from who was standing on an upper platform, while Ratchet just made a noise before turning around.

"Because Miko the signal is that of when he was human. But we know he is the predacon now, so it is clearly a trap to lure us there, by Megatron." Stated Ratchet as he explained.

"So what do we do?" asked Bulkhead.

"Ratchet prepare the ground bridge" said Optimus as everyone turn to give him an quizzical look.

"Optimus, I just stated that the signal is not Jack and that it is most likely a trap." Stated Ratchet as he had no idea why Optimus would still want to go there.

"I understand old friend… but if this is indeed a trap. Then that means jack will most likely be there." Optimus replied as he looked at the screen. "if we could separate Jack from the Decepticons then we stand a chance of getting him to remember once more." He then added as everyone slowly saw what he was getting at.

"That won't be easy boss… the sight will be crawling with cons. How are we to get him away from them?" asked Wheeljack as he stated his concern.

"Arcee" Optimus said as he turned towards the femme who was now looking at him.

He then lowered to one knee before pulling something out before handing it to Arcee. As she opened her servos she saw it was the key to Vector Sigma, to which she looked shocked before looking back up at the leader.

"Arcee you stand the greatest chance out of all of us to having Jack regain his memories. While we distract the rest of the decepticons, you will confront him and try to have him remember." Stated Optimus as she looked down at the key once more, before looking at Optimus again and nodded.

Optimus stood back up and turn to the rest of the team before telling everyone what was about to happen. "Team prime… we all know that we are walking into a trap… but in order to regain a member of this team who has been lost to us. We must do so… when we enter the battlefield keep the decepticons away from Arcee as she tries to separate Jack from them so we can have him regain his memories. His return depend upon it."

Every member of team prime nodded at Ratchet walked over to the console and activated the ground bridge. It was time to make the team whole again.

(Authors notes)

And done… so ya, team prime is going to be in a real hard spot with what's about to happen.

Now I could of gotten this out faster if I didn't have writers block and I think I got an idea on how to avoid that. That idea being I'm going to be starting a second story now. Now before you ask what that is, I'm going to be writing a Kung Fu Panda story, as I what to diverse into more then just transformers, and I've had an idea for it for a while. So hopefully if I have a writers block for one story. Then I can work on the other and keep them coming out more regularly.

I hope to have the first chapter for that story out in a few days as it is coming along nicely. I will try to alternate between stories as I update but if I suffer more writers block on one then you can expect for updates on one then the other.

Also one of you in the reviews asked will I be making a sequel to this story to answer that, most likely yes.

Until next time this is the forgotten soldier signing off.


	18. Chapter 18

(Authors Notes)

Hey everyone, I'm back with another chapter. Sorry for taking so long. Things have just been busy for me so I couldn't get a decent amount of time to just sit down and write for a little bit. But I have managed to find some time and now I got another chapter.

So without further a due, lets jump in.

(Siberia)

The ground bridge roared to life as the autobots drove through before transforming and get into their battle stances. Everyone scanned the area around them and could see it was coved with hills and some trees.

"Optimus, I positioned you just South east of the signals location." Said Ratchet over the comms, before disconnecting the call.

Optimus looked down at the scanner and saw that they were south east of the signal. He gave out a hand signal and everyone began to move forward towards the signals location.

As they walked Arcee looked to her right and saw a raven that lead down to a river some two hundred feet below.

"You sure this is a good idea Optimus?" asked Bulkhead as he to their leader who was ahead of them, causing Optimus to so slightly.

"We are left with little chose Bulkhead. This may very well be our only chance at restoring Jack to who he once was." Responded Optimus while still looking forward.

Another couple of minutes when by and before the team came to a clearing where at the end was a cliff face with something propped up against it. Optimus then looked closer and saw what looked to be Jack limp against a rock. He raised his hand to signal for everyone to say where they were, which everyone did as the simply moved to get a better position. Optimus then walked forward into the clearing until he was in the very center.

"Megatron!" Optimus said in a commanding tone. "I know that you are here… so reveal yourself!" he then order as he looked around the surrounding area for him.

He then saw movement from above the cliff face and saw just in time for Megatron to land in front of Optimus.

"You were always very perceptive Optimus." Said Megatron as he stood to his full height. "Allow me to venture… you have come for your human pet?" stated Megatron while gesturing to the limp figure behind him.

"I know what you have done Megatron… I know what has befallen Jackson." Responded Optimus as his optics narrowed slightly.

"Oh… and what pray tell would that be?" asked Megatron as an evil grin formed on his face.

"I know that you had Jackson turned into the predacon Megatron." Said Optimus in disgust which caused Megatron to look shocked for a moment, before he frowned slightly.

"And how pray tell do you know that 'that', is what I have done to your precious human?" asked Megatron as he tilted his head slightly as the grin returned to his face.

Optimus gave no reply as simply stared at Megatron, as he tried to hide this information. But Megatron seemed to put the pieces together as soon he began to chuckle.

"Ha, ha ha… so the Primes of old showed you, did they? Yes, nothing escapes them… but it is no matter." Responded Megatron a sly grin reappeared on his face. "Do you truly think that your precious human can be saved… that you can some how… return him to what he once was? You can't prime and soon you will be destroyed by him." He then stated which made Optimus features darken considerable.

While Megatron continued to taunt Optimus, above them at the top of the cliff edge, hidden from sight was Scourge, Predaking, and Shockwave. They were waiting for Megatron to give the order where Scourge would attack the Autobots, while Predaking long with the other decepticons hidden around the autobots would keep them from escaping.

Scourge looked down at Optimus with intense anger as he was having a hard time keeping himself from just charging at the prime to tear him apart but he was not going to disobey a command from Megatron. Especially with Predaking right next to him, who would without a doubt beat him to scrap for being so disobedient.

He couldn't quiet hear what the prime and Megatron were saying, but he really didn't care though. All he wanted to do was exact his revenge against the Autobots. He then looked to his side slightly to Predaking who was waiting patiently for the signal. Predaking then looked over to Scourge and could tell Scourge was running out of patience.

" **Patience… wait for the signal."** Order Predaking quietly as to not to alert the autobots of their presence.

Back down below them Optimus and Megatron, were staring at one another as they waited for the other to make the first move. The moments ticked by before the silence finally broken, by none other then Megatron.

"NOW!" he ordered as Scourge jumped down off the ledge straight towards the prime. Optimus barely had enough time to see the attack and avoid it by rolling out of the way. As the others then saw dozens of decepticons completely surrounding them.

"Oh boy." Mumbled Bulkhead as he felt as sense of Déjà vu to when they had Megatron at their mercy.

Optimus kept his hands at his sides at he tried to reason with Scourge to see how much of himself still remained.

"Jackson, you are not yourself… let us help you remember." Optimus pleaded as he tried help Scourge.

Scourge felt a familiar pain in the back of his processor as images flashed before of scenes he couldn't make out. Megatron noticed the sudden change and he had even accounted for this, so he decided to intervene.

"Scourge… do not listen to the prime. He is merely trying to get you to lower your guard so he can destroy you." He said to which Scourge shook his head to get the images to cease.

Once the images were gone Scourge wasted no time in lunging forward towards Optimus as he intended to end the prime. Optimus readied himself for the attack but before Scourge reached him Arcee came flying in and landed a blow with her wrist blades.

She then skidded to a halt before activating her blasters an unleashing a few shots at Scourge. Scourge roared in pain before redirecting his attention at Arcee. Arcee rolled out of the way as Scourge tried to step on her and transformed into her alt mode.

"Arcee!" shouted Optimus as Arcee took off and with Scourge chasing after her.

"I got this." She shouted back as she drove out of sight as Scourge ran after her.

Optimus was about to follow but stopped when a blaster shot landed right in front of him, causing him to turn and see Megatron with his canon pointed at him. Megatron then grinned as he readjusted his aim before firing once more.

(with Arcee)

Arcee sped through the forest as she tried to lead Scourge away from the decepticons. She readjusted her mirrors and saw Scourge right on her trail as he prepared to melt her with his dragon breath. She was able to dodge the first one but the second one hit right next to her causing her to fly through the air before landing in a clearing.

She transformed before skidding to a halt. Scourge was right on her though and she had to roll out of away in order to avoid being flattened. She then jumped back to put some distance between her and Scourge as she tried to get him to remember.

"Jack its me… Arcee." She stated but Scourge just growled as he began pacing back and forth as he tried to decide on how to attack.

"You're my partner Jack… not Megatron's servant. Don't you remember?" Arcee then asked as a image flashed into Scourge's vision. An image of her and a native organic driving down a road.

Scourge immediately shook his head as he tried to get the image to vanish.

'It's a trick.' He thought as the image faded and he refocused his vision on Arcee. 'and I will not fall for it!' he then thought as he charged at her.

Arcee saw Scourge's behaviour and knew she was getting to him though not enough to stop him, or get him to remember but enough to trigger something inside of him. She then jumped back as Scourge tried to swipe her, and put some distance between her and Scourge once more.

"We're partners Jack… you were always there for me… like time you helped me face Arachnid." She then stated, which caused another vision to appear for Scourge. An image of Arcee and another femme, this one black and purple fighting.

'NO1' Scourge thought as he closed his eyes to get the image to cease. 'it isn't real… she is just trying to trick me!' he then thought as he finally reopened his eyes.

Arcee then reached behind her back and slowly pulled out the key to vector sigma, as she then held it out for Scourge to see.

"Optimus trusted you with this don't you remember?" she then asked which caused yet another vision to flash before Scourge. An image of the autobot leader passing the key to the organic.

'Is she telling the truth?' he then wondered. 'NO! NO! she just trying to trick me!' he then thought as he charged forward blindly as he snapped his jaws at Arcee.

Arcee saw this and jumped out of the way as she put herself at a distance again. She was about to say something else but stopped when she saw something she didn't want to see off to her right. She saw Miko and not far behind her was Raf running behind a tree.

'NO!' she thought 'how are they even here?' she then wondered.

Scourge saw her stare and followed it until he also saw them which stopped them in their tracks.

"Uh… Miko." Said Raf as grabbed her arm slightly.

Miko looked at him as she clearly didn't know that Scourge had seen them. She was about to ask something but stopped when Scourge swiped his talon taking the tree that was hiding them right out of the ground and sending it sailing off to the side.

"Oh." Said Miko as she turned to look at Scourge who was now staring angrily down at them. "Scrap." She then whispered as she ducked her head slightly.

Scourge looked down at the organic remember the one being allied with the autobots. He then reared his head as he readied gullet to unleash his dragon breath on them.

Arcee saw this and immediately charged forward to save them however Scourge saw her out of the corner of his vision. He then waited until Arcee jumped to deliver a blow to his head, before to her shock he lifted himself onto his rear legs and swung his head like a bat sending her flying off to the side and into a tree.

Scourge then landed back on all fours and redirected his attention back towards Raf and Miko who now looked on with fear as Scourge readied to burn them. Scourge reared his head back as before unleashing fire right at the two. Arcee looked on with horror as she looked up to see the fire heading towards the two.

But just before fire ball reached the two Ultra Magnus came from out of nowhere and grabbed the two before jumping off to the side with them with the fireball causing an explosion right behind them as Ultra Magnus slid behind a rock. Arcee saw this and immediately got up before running up behind Scourge and jumping on his back before running up his back and jumping off of his head. She then also landed behind the rock as another explosion from Scourges rocked the rock that they were behind.

Arcee then looked down at Raf and Miko with a frown, clearly not pleased with the two.

"What are you two doing here?!" she asked angrily, more so for their safety.

"Dude… what else." Said Miko as she looked up at Arcee "We came to help." She then stated.

"Miko Jack doesn't remember you or Raf… he doesn't even remember me and won't hesitate to kill you." Scolded Arcee, before turning to look at Ultra Magnus. "And what are you even doing here sir?" she asked.

Ultra Magnus looked at her as the event that transpired before he found the two resurfaced in his processor.

(Flashback)

Ultra Magnus had gotten up as he couldn't take lying down anymore. He looked down to his new appendage with a sigh. He looked forward as he neared the command center where he saw ratchet looking at a console. He then approached where he heard Ratchet.

"…positioned you just south east of the signals location." He said as he disconnected as he stared at the monitor completely unaware of Ultra Magnus's presence behind him.

'What is going on?' he wondered as stood behind Ratchet to see a map of somewhere on earth was opened up, with autobot signals on the screen.

Ratchet looked down before typing something in the console. He then turned around before nearly jumping at seeing the commander silently standing behind him.

"Primus Ultra Magnus…" he said as he grabbed his chest plate where his spark was. "you almost gave me a spark attack." He then stated as he attempted to slow his spark rate.

"Doctor?" started the command "Where is everyone?" he then finished as he looked around.

"On a mission." Responded Ratchet. "a signal came up and everyone went with Optimus." He then stated.

"Even the humans?" the commander then asked.

"No." responded Ratchet confused "their still here." He then stated.

"Where?" Ultra asked.

"Right…" started Ratchet as he turned to the evaluated area, where no one was present. "…there." Slowly finished Ratchet as realised the children were.

He didn't need to be a master at space bridge engineering to know what had happened.

"Miko!" he shouted as he moved back to the console.

"The organic entered the field?" asked Ultra Magnus.

"Yes, and Rafael most likely followed in an attempt to stop her." Replied Ratchet as he tried to get a hold of Optimus.

"Optimus, we have a situation." Said Ratchet over the comms but all he received was static. "Scrap!" he then cursed. "Decepticons are jamming the signal." He then stated as he slammed his fist into the console. "I need to enter the field and get them." He then said as he turned activate the ground bridge, but a arm stopped him.

"Doctor… you are most effective here at command." He said as he lowered his arm. "I will retrieve them." He then stated as he turned to look at the ground bridge.

"What?!" said Ratchet as he turned to look at the commander with shock clear on his face. "No no no! you have yet to regain the use of your hand. You are not yet ready to re-enter the field!" countered Ratchet.

Ultra Magnus closed his optics as he couldn't believe he was about be like a wrecker. Over the last while he had come to know the autobots here and even the humans. He knew how much they meant to the team, and even he had come to like them some what. So he was going to do what ever it took to see that they remain safe. But he still couldn't believe he was going to pull a wrecker and break the chain of command.

"Sir I understand that my condition is less then desirable for combat. But now is not a time to follow protocol. If we are going to save the children we need to break protocol. I will return once I have the children." Ultra magnus said as he looked at Ratchet.

Ratchet couldn't believe what here was hearing. Ultra Magnus… a mech who would of never supported the break of protocol, is now suggesting it. He then sighed as he turned back to the console and retyped the coronates to were he sent the other. Once they were in he activated the lever which caused the ground bridge to roar to life.

"You are to come get as far away from the battle once have the children. Once I regain connection with you, I will bridge you back." Ratchet instructed very a serious tone.

"Yes doctor." Responded Ultra magnus before turning and running through the ground bridge. Once through the ground bridge it closed behind him, and he could hear blaster fire off in the distance.

He instantly knew that that was the direction he needed to go, so he transformed and began driving towards the fight as he kept a look out for the children. He stopped though when he heard a roar and retransformed back into his biped mode. He looked to the direction the roar came from before he spotted tracks. Human tracks.

He began following the tracks tell he realised they were heading in the same direction as the roar. He soon came over a hill and saw Raf and Miko right in front of Scourge. he then saw Scourge about fry them and he began running towards the children. He stopped though when he saw Arcee run up to Scourge and was hit into a tree. He immediately began running again as he closed in on the children, he could also see Scourge getting ready to fry them. He neared the children just as Scourge unleashed his fire and Ultra Magnus reached down to grab them he grabbed Miko with his good and then focused on Raf.

He can do this… its just like grabbing an energon cube. He reached down and placed his new hand around Raf as he gently grabbed him. Once secure in his servo he sprang forward behind a rock, where he put them down. Just as he looked around the rock and saw Arcee jumping off of Scourge and landing right behind the boulder with them.

(End of flashback)

Arcee just had look of shock on her face as Ultra magnus finished telling her what happened. She was about to say something, but stopped when a growl caught their attention. Everyone then turned to see Scourge looking down at them from over the rock.

"Scrap!" swore Arcee as she realised they were in trouble.

(With Optimus)

Optimus staggered back as he received a blow to face, which was thrown by Megatron. He then turned as he locked his hands together to deliver a blow under Megatron's chin, sending him backwards. He looked around him to see that the other members of team prime were fighting the other decepticons. But oddly enough they weren't closing in on them. They were merely keeping their distance and preventing them from going anywhere.

'Most likely Megatron has an idea he sees fit to finish us.' Optimus concluded as he turned back to face Megatron.

"Do you really think that your pet can be saved Optimus?" Megatron asked as a grin formed on his face. "He can't… and the last prime will fall not by any Decepticon... but by the very vermin he once trusted." He then stated, which caused a swell of anger in Optimus.

"Jackson is not lost to us." He countered, which only caused Megatron to chuckle.

Optimus, now no longer wanting to continue this discussion charged forwarded as he readied himself to re-engage the warlord. Once near his opponent he reared back his fist and swung it at Megatron's head. Megatron easily dodged it and threw his own punch which hit Optimus in the side of the face causing him to stagger back. Megatron didn't let up though he bombarded his opponent with powerful blows. Optimus tried his best to block the blows but Megatron's speed overwhelmed him and he received several of the blows.

Optimus then took several steps back to get some breathing room, saw that the team was having trouble as well. Bulkhead and Wheeljack were barely holding Predaking off, while Bumblebee and Smokescreen tried to shoot the seekers hiding at the tree line above them.

'I hope Arcee is getting somewhere with Jackson.' He thought as he readied himself for another bout with Megatron.

(With Arcee)

Arcee was starting to regret this as she drove between the trees in an effort to put some distance between her and Scourge. She looked forward to see Ultra magnus still ahead of her with the kids strapped in. she then readjusted her mirrors to see Scourge not far from her and she knew he was going to catch up any second. She then suddenly saw a few Decepticons ahead of them with their backs turned.

'Great! We when in a giant circle!' she thought sarcastically as she and Ultra magnus went into over drive.

Ultra Magnus hit a seeker before descending to the battle below while Arcee transformed and turned around while in the air to shoot a couple. She then spun around in order to land on her feet as she looked up to see Scourge jump down from the ledge as well to join the fight.

Megatron noticed this and idea formed in his head. He gave one final punch to Optimus which knocked him off of his feet and sent him skidding along the ground. Megatron the jumped up and landed on the edge as he gave a silent order to everyone but Scourge to fall back to the ledge.

Scourge looked at the autobots who were now in defensive stances with the exception of Ultra Magnus who was behind a rock, most likely with Raf and Miko.

"Scourge." said Megatron as he gained his beast's attention. "You are to destroy the autobots, leave no trace of them." He ordered, to which Scourge turned look at the autobots with a growl.

"No one is to engage unless I say so." Megatron then ordered to everyone on the edge who was watching.

Everyone then turned towards Scourge as he looked dead focused on the Autobots. Optimus then looked at Arcee who turned to look at him. He nodded at her giving her all the information she needed, as she then returned the nod before turning to look at Scourge.

His gaze met hers as fiery red met light blue. She then took a slow deep breath before walking forward as Scourge growled. Bumblebee was about to follow but was stopped by Optimus who grabbed his shoulder plating shaking his head no.

Everyone looked on as Arcee stopped while Scourge once again began pacing left and right as he weighed his options. Arcee then once again reached behind and pulled out the key to vector sigma as Scourge eyed it with hatred.

"Jack, you need to listen to me… Megatron is deceiving you." She said as Scourge felt the pain in the back of his head return.

Scourge shook his head and charged at Arcee, who rolled out of the way. Scourge then skidded to a stop and scraped his talon along the ground as he readied himself to charge once more.

"Jack please… let me help you." Arcee pleaded, to which Scourge roared at her before charging once more.

Arcee this time jumped over him as he passed and landed on the ground with ease, while Scourge skidded to a stop once more.

While she continued to try and get through to Jack the decepticons watched as Starscream turned to Megatron.

"Master… what happens if she does manage to somehow… reach the beast?" he asked, to which Megatron turned his gaze towards the seeker.

" 'If' he somehow manages to regain his memories… then Predaking will eliminate him." He replied as Predaking growled towards Scourge.

'If you choose treason, then I will end you." He thought as he watched Scourge try once again to engage Arcee.

Arcee seemed to slowly but surely be getting through to him, he had begun to shake his head wildly after every bout. Scourge's head felt like it was going to fry as more and more images began to appear in his head.

'What if she is telling the truth?' he wondered before immediately throwing the thought away.

'No! She's the enemy! She's just trying to weaken me so she can finish me!' he then thought angrily.

He then turned to look at her as he roared once more, as he studied. He could still see her holding that object he found at the organic settlement.

'That's it!' he thought. 'That's what's causing the visons! I need to get rid of that thing.' He thought, as an idea formed in his head.

He then charged once more, this time waiting for Arcee to make her move. She waited until he last second to roll out of the way once more only this time Scourge planned on it. As he passed he gave a huge swing of his tail which collided with Arcee sending flying towards the cliff edge that lead to the river below. She barely caught the last rock as she heard several members of the team shout her name. her grip tightened on the rock, but lost her grip on the key and to her horror watched it fall to the river below.

'NNNOOO!' she thought, as her hope of saving Jack from Megatron's deception seemed to break into a million pieces.

She felt her grip on the rock slip slightly as she turned back to grab on the rock with both hands. She then pulled herself up and crawled away from the ledge before standing once more. She looked down as her optics closed as she realised saving Jack was now impossible.

Optimus noticed Arcee's look of despair and noticed she was no longer holding the key, and realised she must have dropped it. He closed his optics as he knew it was over. There was nothing they could do now.

'No!' he then thought. 'Alpha Trion said there is always a way… and now is no different.' He thought as the teaching of his old mentor surfaced to his mind.

But how? How were they going to be able to have Jack remember who he once was? Then he remembered something Alpha Trion once told him.

The most powerful thing in the universe is love.

'Arcee…' he thought. 'She can still bring him back because he how much she meant to Jack., and that Jack would never let anything happen to her.'

"Arcee!" he shouted which caused the femme to look up at him. "Even without the key you can still have him remember. Remember how much he cares for you!" he then said which seemed to get through to her.

'He's right. Jack's my partner, my best friend.' She thought as she pushed herself back to her pedes. 'And I love him… and I'm not losing him like I lost tailgate or Cliff.'

Scourge watched as Arcee stood back up and was pleased to see that she was no longer holding the key. She then looked at him with a look of determination as he stared back at her with a look of anger and frustration.

'I'm done with this!' he thought as he shifted his gaze to the others. 'Time to change the game.' He then added as he brought fire from his gullet to his mouth and proceeded to unleash it at the other.

The rest of the autobots barely had enough time to react and jumped out of the way as the fire flew past them. Arcee realised he was now attempting take out the other as he didn't have as much of a connection to them as she did. Scourge then charged forward and swiped Bumblebee off of his feet as he got off the ground and sent him through a tree.

"Bee!" shouted Raf in worry but was relieved when he saw Bumblebee stand back up.

Scourge then turned his gaze to Bulkhead who activated his blasters.

"Jack…" he warned. "Don't make me do this." He then pleaded.

Scourge gave growl as he charged forward, to which Bulkhead opened fired. Bulkhead hit him only a few times before Scourge closed the distance and slammed him into the ground with his front talons.

"Bulk!" cried out Miko as she bolted out from behind the rock towards her guardian.

"Miko!" said Raf in an attempt to stop her, but she just kept running until she was right in between Bulkhead and Scourge.

"Jack cut it out!" she ordered as Scourge gave growl before bringing fire from his gullet to his mouth.

Miko froze with fear as Scourge was moments away from frying her, but Bulkhead grabbed her and jumped back behind the boulder where Raf and Ultra magnus were hiding.

"Miko!" said Bulkhead in disbelief "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Du… I'm here to help." She said as if it was obvious.

"Not this time Miko." Said Bulkhead as an explosion happened on the other side of the boulder. "There is no way I'm letting you near him." He then added.

"But…" started Miko but was stopped when Bulkhead raised his hand.

"No… you need to stay here." He stated as he pointed to the ground. "Alright?" he then asked.

Miko looked like she wanted to protest but the look from Bulkhead stopped her. She sighed before say "Try not to hurt him to badly."

Bulkhead chuckled and said "Don't worry Miko I won't." before jumping back into the fight. "It him not hurting me I'm worried about." He murmured to himself.

Scourge had been trying to pick the autobots off one by one, but every time he was about to get one the other forced his attention to them. He saw Arcee approaching and tried to bite her but she slid under him as she landed a few blows with her blaster. Scourge roared in pain as he then tried to slam his tail into her but she merely stepped out of the way.

Arcee had a look of pain on her face as she blaster Scourge a few more time, as she didn't want to hurt her partner. But the only to get to him was to weaken him enough that he would have to listen since she didn't have the key anymore. She ran up to him and jumped onto his back, where she fired a few shots off to the back of Scourge's head. Scourge shook his body in order to get Arcee off and once she fell off he took a few steps back in order to get everyone in his line of sight.

The pain in the ack of his head was going almost unbearable and all he wanted now was to get the autobots to stop it. He clenched his eyes shut a sharp pain throbbed in his head before opening them and charging once more.

Smokescreen was the closest, and had to dodge a few swipes of his talon that would have thrown him of the edge of the cliff had they connected. He then jumped back as Optimus came running forward and delivered a blow to Scourge's jaw causing Scourge to stagger back a few steps.

Scourge then saw Bulkhead and Wheeljack trying to flank him so he unleashed a stream of fire that burned the ground in front of them, and stopping them from being able to flank. He then did the same thing on the other side where he saw Bumblebee and started to push them back towards the ledge.

Smokescreen took a step back and felt the ground give ways slightly behind him and turned to see he was right on the edge.

Arcee realised they were in a bad situation so she charged forward in attempt to get Scourge to let up on his assault. But Scourge didn't and instead headbutted her back as she landed on the ground hard. Scourge the stopped and let out a low growl as he prepared to finally finish the autobots.

From the cliff ledge overlooking the battle everyone watched on with interest to see how this would playout.

"This will be interesting… ether the autobots go splat like a bug or meet the jaws of an angry predacon." Remarked Knockout.

Back down at the bottom Scourge took one step forwards he readied himself to finish the autobots as they readied themselves to meet their end. When suddenly the pain returned full force in the back of his head causing him to completely freeze. It was like he was frozen, he couldn't move a single muscle. Arcee opened her optics and saw that Scourge was not moving and was even shaking.

'This is my last chance!' she thought as she took a step towards Scourge who was still shaking.

"Jack…" she said slowly as she slowly raised her hand. "Please…" she pleaded as she took another step closer.

Scourge felt the pain in his head worsen as she spoke images began to rapid fire in his mind. He could see Arcee now only a few steps away and he still couldn't move any part of his body. Arcee finally reached Scourge as she rested her hand on the side of his head and her eyes meet his.

"Please partner… remember us." She begged as she closed in even further as her head was right next to his ear. "Remember me…" she whispered "I… I love you." She then finished as she closed her optics and waited to see if he would finally come back to them.

Her words rang in Scourge's head like a bell as the words I love you repeated over and over in his mind. The images and voices now like a blur, as they were impossible to decipher. Then like a breaking of a dam everything came flooding back.

Memories of his childhood, of his mother, School, his job, his friends. The first time he met Arcee and became involved with the autobots, to his mission on Cybertron. His capture after he texted his mom.

Everything came back and with it he saw the edges of his vision fade as his vision became black.

Everyone was shocked when Scourge's eyes suddenly roomed to the back of his head and he collapsed to the ground. Even the Decepticons were shocked as they had no idea why he suddenly collapsed.

Then a low growl came from Scourge as his head moved slightly meaning he was regaining consciousness.

'Did it work?' wondered Arcee as she along with the others waited with hope that it was over. She then dropped to her knees as Scourge's eyes slowly opened as he slowly gained consciousness.

When Scourge finally opened his eyes and he weakly scanned his surrounding before landing on the team who were now getting a little closer, before finally landing on Arcee.

"Jack?" she whispered as she felt a nonextant breath catch in her throat.

Time seemed to move almost at a stand still, till an feature could be seen in his eyes that had never been there before.

Recognition.

" **Arcee…?"** Whispered Jack back which came out almost like a loving moan.

"Jack!" said Arcee as she immediately dropped down to wrap her arms around him, to which he rested his head over her shoulder.

Everyone else gave a sigh of relief as they knew it was finally over. Arcee finally pulled herself away from Scourge as she got to her pedes.

"Come on partner… on your pedes." She said as she helped him regain his footing.

Once he regained his footing he took several steps back in order to let the rest of the team back away from the edge.

The decepticons couldn't believe what was happening as Scourge let the Autobots back away from the edge. Megatron frowned as he clinched his fist slightly.

"Scourge!" he roared which caught the predacons attention who turned to look up at him. "Destroy them." He then ordered, but Scourge just growled before roaring back at him as he took a protective step in front of the team.

"It looks it remembers." Stated Starscream as a smug grinned formed on his face as knew Shockwave going to get scrap for this.

"The autobots may have regained their pet… But I still possess the more powerful predacons." Responded Megatron as he shifted his gaze to Predaking who was looking at Scourge with disgust.

"Predaking." He then ordered as he gain the predacon's attention. "Have Scourge submit to you and eliminate the autobots… or destroy him." He ordered as he turned his gaze back down to Scourge.

Predaking didn't need to be told twice as he immediately jumped down and roared at Scourge who tensed with fear.

Predaking was bigger… and any other time Scourge tried stand up to him Predaking mopped the floor with him.

Scourge took a timid step back as Predaking roared at him again, as he ordered Scourge to finish the enemy. Scourge then shifted his gaze to the others as he scanned over the team before finally resting his sight on Arcee.

'No!' he thought as he stared at her. 'I'm not hurt them… and I'm especially not hurting her! It's time to see who the real alpha is!' he thought as he turned his gaze back to Predaking and the most powerful roar he could muster, as he challenged him.

Predaking growled before giving his own as equally powerful roar as the two sized each other up.

"Wow…" said Miko who had come out from behind the rock she, Raf and Ultra magnus had hid behind to stand with the others. "the most epic battle of the beast is about to happen." She then stated as she pulled out her cell phone.

Everyone else silently agreed with her as they prepared themselves for the battle that was about to unfold. Because one thing was certain, and that was only one was going to be walking away from this.

One finally thought entered Scourge's head as he prepared for what was going to be the battle of his life.

'time to see who the true Alpha is…' he thought.

(Authors notes)

And… Done.

Yes, I know I left it on a cliff hanger, and some of you are most likely cursing me to the pit for doing so.

But Jack is back, and the final battle is about to begin. Which also means this story is starting to reach its end. But like I said in the previous chapter I am going to be doing a sequel, so there is still more to come.

I do want to thank everyone for being patient, as I know its been a while. But life got in the way.

I hope to have another chapter out soon and hopefully we will see who will come out on top.

Who will win. Predaking or Scourge.

Until next time this is the forgotten soldier 343 signing off.


	19. Chapter 19

(Authors notes)

Hey everyone I'm back with another chapter so without further a due.

Let's begin.

(Siberia)

Scourge stared at Predaking as he did the same waiting for the other to make the first. Scourge shifted his feet slight to get better balance, while Predaking swiped in front left talon in order to get a feel for the ground.

Everyone else who was present was dead fixed on the fight as they waited for the sheer brawl that was going to happen. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity Predaking made the first moved and roared at Scourge before charging towards him. Scourge gave his own roar as he then to charged forward, at a fast pace.

With in moments the gap that was between them vanished as predacon clashed with predacon. Scourge was the first to strike as he bit down on Predaking's neck after they collided. Predaking gave a roar of pain as he then immediately ripped his neck free from Scourge's grip. Predaking then returned the favor as he swiped his talon across Scourge's face with enough force to cause him to skid to the side.

Scourge shook his head as he refocused on Predaking but he was already on him again as he tried to bite down on his head. Scourge barely got his head out of the way as Predaking's jaw snapped shut with it only clipping his snout slightly. Scourge then tried to swipe his own talon at Predaking as he aimed for the legs, but Predaking raised himself onto his hind legs before slamming his front one down into Scourge slamming him hard into the ground, which cracked under the pressure.

Scourge desperately tried to get to his feet but just as he got back on his feet, he received a tremendous blow to the face which sent him sailing into a rock.

"Jack!" shouted Arcee in worry as she saw her partner get shakily back to his feet.

Scourge Stumbled for a second before regaining himself and charging right back at Predaking, as he readied himself for a second round. Just as he reached Predaking he slammed himself into him causing Predaking to skid back a few feet, before roaring at him and charged at Scourge. Scourge leapt back as Predaking swung his talons at him. Scourge closed the distance as he then slammed his jaw down on Predaking's neck right below the head.

Predaking roared for a moment before using his superior size to throw Scourge off of him and into the cliff edge right below the decepticons. Weakly Scourge forced himself back to his feet and barely rolled out of the way as Predaking to slam him hard into the ground.

Both predacons then began circling one another as they weighed their next moves. Scourge shook his head as he tried to lessen the pain, while Predaking growled and snapped his jaw at Scourge.

This time it was Scourge who made the first move as he charged at Predaking before leaping into the air as he tried to land on Predaking. Predaking quickly reacted to this and spun around as he slammed his tail into Scourge sending him flying through the air and through a few trees which snapped like twigs.

"Jack!" shouted Arcee again as she was about to run forward to help but Predaking quickly redirected his attention to Arcee as he saw her advance as a challenge.

He then growled at her as he turned to face her as she stopped and realised her mistake as she took a step back in fear. Scourge shook his head as he slowly pushed himself up, before hearing another roar. He then looked over to see Predaking taking a step closer to Arcee as she started to become cornered by the large boulder.

'No!' he though as he immediately began charging forward as he hurried to reach her.

Arcee found herself finally pressed against the rock as Predaking stood over her. Some of the other tired to reach her but Predaking turned and unleashed a wave of fire which separated them from the others. Predaking then turned back to Arcee as she looked with fear as he reared his back and prepared to strike. With immense speed, he brought his head down as Arcee closed her optics. But the bite never hit…

Slowly she opened her optics and to astonishment saw Scourge standing in front of her with his front leg firmly in Predaking's jaw. Scourge winced with immense pain but refused to move as he protected Arcee, before using as much strength as possible to push Predaking back. Predaking skidded to a stop as he refocused his attention on Scourge.

Scourge took a step forward but suddenly collapsed as he couldn't stand on the leg that had been bitten. Taking a shaky breath Scourge looked at Predaking as he looked down at him with disgust.

" **So weak… so tell me omega, what chance do you really think you have?"** Predaking asked as Scourge looked back at Arcee before focusing on Predaking once more.

" **Let me show you."** He growled as he adjusted himself to get himself back to his feet, though while avoiding his injured leg.

Scourge walked forward as he dragged his injured leg along the ground as he readied himself for another round.

"Jack let me help you." Stated Arcee in a despite attempt to aid her partner.

But before she could get more then a few steps, Scourge turned and unleashed a wave of fire as he cut himself and Predaking off from her and the others. Arcee skidded to a stop as she had to leap back away from the flames as she looked at Scourge in disbelief.

"Jack!" she shouted as Scourge turned to face Predaking.

'Sorry Arcee… but there is no way I'm losing you.' He thought as he struggled to take another step.

Un above Megatron and the others watch as Scourge continued to limp as he foolishly tried to stand against Predaking.

"As I said my liege…" said Shockwave as he watched his creations fight. "Predaking is far superior to Scourge, and the probability of him winning is near impossible." He then stated.

"So, it would seem." Replied Megatron with satisfaction as he watched with amusement.

Back below Arcee continued to study the wall of fire that separated her and Scourge as she tried to reach him. But the heat and steady flames showed no sign of weakness. But not willing to leave her partner to do this alone she readied herself to run through the flames but was stopped by Optimus who grabbed her Shoulder plating.

"Optimus?" asked Arcee and disbelief that her leader had stopped her.

"There is nothing we can do now Arcee. He has made his choice." He stated as he showed he clearly didn't like this anymore then she did.

Arcee spun her head around back to the fight at hand as Scourge finally encouraged himself enough to make a move, slowly he charged forward with his three good legs as tried to slam himself into Predaking. Predaking merely waited until Scourge was right next to him before stepping to the side as he slammed his talon into Scourge's side leaving a deep gash.

Scourge roared in pain as he turned to look at the wound and saw energon leaking from it. He then shifted his stance to see Predaking just as he slammed his tail into the side of his head. Scourge's head whipped to the side as energon began leaking from his mouth to now too, but still refused to give up.

Predaking then charged forward and slammed into Scourge causing him to lose his footing and fall over. Scourge then tried to bite Predaking in the leg in an attempt to even the fight, but Predaking lifted his talon to avoid Scourge's jaw and with all his force slammed his talon down onto Scourge's head, with enough force to cause the ground to crack from the force.

Scourge began see three of everything as he slowly pushed himself up off the ground before stumbling slightly into the boulder next to him. Predaking then wasted no time as he grabbed Scourge's tail with his mouth before swinging him around and threw him through the boulder which shattered upon impact. Scourge then skidded to a stop as he hauled in pain as Arcee and the others shout his name.

Scourge then tried to get up but found a familiar talon pressed down on his neck as he looked up to see Predaking standing over him. Scourge weakly attempted to force himself up but found himself pressed back down even harder causing him to roar in pain. He then opened his eyes as he focused on Arcee on the other side of the wall of fire, who dropped to her knees as she looked back into his eyes. He could then feel Predaking beginning to close in as he prepared to finish him. Scourge then closed his eyes for a moment before opening as he prepared for his end and his last moment looking at Arcee.

Arcee just looked with sheer despair in her eyes as her lower lip quivered as she watched. She then could feel something run down her cheek, which turned out to be an energon tear, before falling to ground. Scourge couldn't believe what he was witnessing, as he saw what Arcee just did.

She just cried… CRIED! Right in front of him, and never once had he ever seen her cry. He could believe that he meant that much to her as he knew she was crying for him. He then felt his spark ache as he couldn't stand the sight and felt himself fill with rage at Predaking.

A rage like none he ever felt before, not even when he attacked Wheeljack and Magnus. He then looked up at Predaking as he began to lower his jaw over him, as he prepared to kill Scourge. Scourge could feel a fire in him that desperately wanted out, as he was not going to let Arcee be in emotional pain. That fire in him continued to grow as his gullet suddenly began to glow red hot as he then roared at Predaking.

It was in that moment that something unexpected happened, as fire suddenly erupted out of his mouth and began to consume him. The fire spread over his body like a fog as it consumed him until the fire covered his entire body.

The sudden flash of heat and fire spread outwards and a few of the embers hit Predaking in the eyes causing him to release Scourge as he roared in pain. He then roared in even more pain as out of no where Scourge jumped up and delivered a powerful bite under Predaking's head forcing him to take a few steps back. Scourge didn't let up there though as he then leapt up and landed a strong swipe to Predaking's face, drawing energon.

Scourge didn't stop there though as he continued to swipe at Predaking leaving even more claw marks on him as he continued to push him back. Scourge then let out a roar before lunging forward and landing another bite mark on Predaking as he bit on his neck before slamming him into the cliff face below the decepticons.

The fire that prevented Arcee and the others from moving finally went out, and Arcee wasted no time in running forward towards her partner. She skidded to a stop though in order to avoid a rock which came from the cliff face as Scourge once again slammed Predaking into it, before throwing him straight to a group of tree.

Predaking pushed himself up and but soon saw Scourge approach before ripping the tree he was against out of the ground, and swung it like a bat which collided with Predaking sending him flying back towards the ledge that lead to the raven below. Scourge and Predaking exchanged roars before engaging one more as Scourge bit into Predaking's wing causing him roar in pain and attempt to bite Scourge, who dodged with ease. Scourge then delivered a powerful swipe of his talon which sent Predaking right to the ledge with Predaking landing on his side just feet from the edge.

Scourge then ran up and slammed his talons on Predaking which caused the cliff face to crack under the pressure. Scourge saw this and an idea hit him as he looked down at Predaking, who looked up at him in disbelief.

" **There's my chance… omega!"** he taunted, which got a roar out of Predaking before Scourge lifted himself onto his hind legs and slammed them into the ground causing the earth beneath them to give way.

Predaking gave one final roar as did Scourge as the cliff edge gave way, before Predaking began to plummet down to the raven below. Predaking tried to stop his fall but due to his injuries was unable to as he plummeted into the water with half of the cliff face landing on top of him, before submerging below the surface of the water.

The Autobots ran over to the edge and saw the last of the boulders submerge into the water with no sign of Predaking. Scourge then pulled himself away from the ledge as he turned towards the decepticons with his sight set on Megatron. He gave a low growl with a look which even gave Megatron the chills.

Megatron clinched his fist for a second before growling as he knew this fight was over.

"Decepticons…" he yelled as he gained their attention. "Retreat" he then ordered as he knew this battle was lost, and turned around and began walking as a ground bridge opened up in front of him.

All of the decepticons looked at one another before looking at Scourge's death glare before turning to follow their leader through the ground bridge. Scourge watched as the decepticons left and soon the portal closed leaving only the autobots.

Scourge then felt the last of his strength die as the fire on him vanished as he collapsed on his side taking deep sharp breaths as he tried to dull the pain. Arcee watched him collapse and immediately ran over and dropped to her knees beside him.

"Jack!" she said in worry as Scourge just looked at her for a moment before closing his eyes and resting his head on the ground once more. "Oh Jack." She whispered as she hugged him and he to the best of his ability tried to return. "Come on Partner we're taking you home." She then stated as she tried to help Scourge to his feet.

Scourge tried but the pain he felt was great as he barely got to two of his feet before collapsing back to the ground. Arcee then positioned herself right beside Scourge as he tried again to get to his feet with him barely making it. He only took a few steps though as his injured leg gave way forcing him to stop. He then pushed himself back up as he looked forward to see Optimus and the others approaching them with him feeling nervous.

Scourge then hung his head low as he looked to the prime with guilt of everything he did to them being evident on his face.

" **Optimus… I'm… I'm… so sorry… for everything."** He said as closed his optics as he waited to the verbal lashing.

But it never came, causing Scourge to slowly open his eyes to see the prime standing in front of him with only a small smile on his face.

Optimus may have not known what Scourge exactly said but got the general meaning.

"Jackson, you have nothing to apologies for. Your actions before were dictated by other, and if this last battle has proved anything. Is that you are an autobot at spark and a trusted ally." He stated which caused Scourge to look at him shock that he forgave him.

Optimus then smiled which Scourge returned with a predacon version. Scourge once again tried to take a step forward but felt his leg give way, causing him to close his optics as he braced to hit the ground. But instead found something catch his before he could so and opened his optics to see Optimus standing beside him as he helped support him. Arcee then got on the other side of him as helped support him as well. The other then looked at one another before approaching and getting on ether side of him as they helped too. Even Ultra magnus got along side, though with much more hesitation then the other, and even Raf and Miko tried to help.

Optimus smiled as his free hand reached up as he activated his commlink.

"Ratchet, could you please open the ground bridge." He asked before the ground bridge opened up in front of them.

Slowly they help Scourge limp towards the portal before the entire team pass through with it closing moments later.

(Autobot base)

Ratchet watched the portal as he waited for the others to pass through and to his shock saw them all come through along with Scourge limping. Once they were all through he closed the portal and began to approach the others.

"I take it Jack's back?" he asked dryly as he looked at Scourge who looked back to him for a moment.

" **It's good to see you too, Ratchet."** Replied Scourge sarcastically.

Scourge took another step but once again felt a pain run up his leg causing him to collapse back to the ground. Ratchets medical instincts kicked and he ran up to inspect Scourge's wounds. He briefly scanned them and could tell that they need to be welded shut if he was to make a proper recovery.

"Bumblebee run and grab my medical kit, and meet us at the training room." He ordered as bee gave a nod before disappearing down the hall.

"Why the training room?" asked Miko as Ratchet looked over at her for a moment.

"He won't fit into the medical wing, and I don't want to do it here. The training is big enough and out of the way that we don't have worry about him recharging for a few days while he recovers." Responded Ratchet as he then gestured Optimus and Bulkhead over as they helped Scourge to his feet.

They then helped Scourge to the training room where Scourge was finally allowed to collapse and lie on his side as Bumblebee showed up moments later with some of Ratchet's medical tools.

"Alright everybody out." Ratchet ordered as he took the medical tool before shooing everyone out before closing the door to work on Scourge's injuries.

Out side of the training room everyone got comfortable as they waited. Arcee though got up every shortly though as she knew there was someone who needed to know what had happened.

"I got to call June, and let her know what had happened." She said as she then left down the hall.

(An hour later)

An hour had past and nothing had changed as Ratchet had yet to immerge from the training room. Arcee had come back after getting off of the phone with and tell her what had happened, with June saying she was on her way with agent Fowler. Now everyone just sat and waited.

Everyone nearly jumped though when the doors opened Ratchet stepped out with a tired face. Arcee was the first to say anything as she ran up to him.

"How is he!?" she asked as Ratchet just stood there for a moment before stepping out of the way to allow Arcee to see Scourge who was just lying there with his eyes looking at hers.

"He will recover… most of the injuries are just causing him pain rather than damage. He will be up and about in about a week." Replied Ratchet as he stepped out of the way to allow everyone to enter.

Everyone walked in and as Scourge adjusted himself in order to see them better.

"Hey Jack you doing alright?" asked Raf as he stood next to Bumblebee, to which Scourge looked at him and gave a nod as a response.

"Of course, he is Raf, he just pounded the other predacon to scrap." Stated Miko as she lightly punched Raf on the shoulder. "And look…" she then said as she pulled out her cell phone, "I got it all on video."

Scourge just rolled his eyes to Miko's comment, but was glad to be hearing it once more.

"Can say that again Miko… remind me not to get on his bad side." Responded Bulkhead as he looked from his charge to Scourge, who brought his head back down to the ground.

Everyone stopped and turn to the door though as they could hear a noise, before they saw June and Agent Fowler come in. June gasped as she saw her son who immediately looked back at her before trying to stand up.

'Mom!' he thought as pushed himself and saw Ratchet about to protest his movements, but a look from him quickly brought a halt to that.

June ran forward as Scourge took a few shaky steps before lowering his head as he embraced her to the best of his abilities. June tightened her grip on his head as she cried at seeing her son again.

"My baby boy." She cried.

" **It's okay mom I'm here."** Said Scourge as comforted his mother who only tightened her grip on him before realising him to look at him.

"Are you Okay?" she then asked with teary eyes as he nodded back to her before embracing her once more.

Everyone was moved by the sight until they heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. Everyone then turned to see Ratchet as he took a step forward.

"As much as I want to allow this to continue. Scourge needs to get some rest." He stated.

"Agreed, he has been through much, and we could all use some recharge." Replied Optimus with the others looking at one another before nodding and turning to leave.

Soon most were gone with only Ratchet, Optimus, June, Arcee, and Scourge being the only ones left. Arcee then turned to look at June as she silently pleaded with to be allowed some time alone with Scourge. June nodded before giving Scourge one final hug before walking out of the medical ward. Ratchet was about to say something but felt Optimus grab his shoulder plating signaling that the two needed to be alone for a moment. Ratchet left with a huff, with Optimus following right behind him before stopping at the door way. He then looked back at Arcee who smiled at him before giving a nod of thanks to which he returned before walking out and letting the door close behind him, leave the two alone.

"First of all." Said Arcee as she turned from the door to look at Scourge, before bringing her fist up and slamming it on his snout causing him to shake his head momentarily before look at her with a look say what was that for. "That was for sending that fragging text." She stated as Scourge lowered his head for a moment at the memory.

Arcee's positioned changed though as she soon lowered herself to hug him.

"I missed you… so much Jack." She then said as she closed her optics as he rested his head on her shoulder.

" **I missed you too Cee."** He responded as they just sat there for a few moments with each other in an embrace.

Finally, Arcee let go as she then stood up to let Scourge rest before stopping and turning around to face him once more.

"By the way…" she started as closed the distance between them as she then brought Scourge's head down as he allowed her.

She then did something unexpected though as she brought her head to his and kissed him on the forehead. Scourge's eyes widen with shock as he couldn't believe what she was doing as he felt like he was going to melt from the feeling. Arcee held the kiss for a few moments before finally letting go as she then held Scourge's head with her hands.

"Welcome home partner." She then said as she slowly pulled herself away from Scourge with her fingers being that last as they lightly moved from under his head.

She then walked to the door and opened it before turning to give him one final glance as he still looked at her with complete shock. She then gave him a light wink before finally leaving the room which closed behind her leaving Scourge on his own as he still couldn't get over the fact that she kissed him, with only one thought entering his mind.

'Wow!'

(One week later)

One week had pasted and the only remnants of Scourge's fight was that of some light scarring along his body as she walked out of the base and onto the helipad. He scanned the new surroundings as his thoughts turned to the fight he had with Predaking and he clammed the title of alpha. He had over come all odds and was now free, and with his family which he would protect at any cost. He then looked forward as felt there was only one way to symbolize that freedom.

Shifting his stance, he readied himself to do the one thing he could do.

He roared, loud and proud over the landscape as he sent out a dare for anyone to challenge him or his family.

Because if they did… they would face the alpha.

(Authors notes)

And done… so that's it. Hard to believe this story is over, but its not the end. So, in the sequel new autobot and decepticons will appear, and the autobots will have to face a threat.

I want to thank everyone who has been following this story and reviewing, you guys are awesome.

So until next time this is the forgotten soldier signing off.


	20. Announcement

Hey everyone.

This is just an update to announce that the sequel is out and the first chapter is up.

The sequel is called Transformers Prime Fragments of the Past, which I posted.

So if you are interested in reading and following the sequel you now know its up and what it is called.

Anyways just wanted to let you all know.

Until next time this is the forgotten soldier signing off.


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